The Terror of Silence
by The Polybian Forces
Summary: Many people take speaking for granted. Being able to easily express themselves and let others know things. But for one teen, that is just not the case. And while his lack of speech can hold him back, he has other things at his disposal he can use to combat enemies. But the pain holds him back from even utilizing that. With what little he has, he tries and hold on to what he can...
1. Chapter 1: Go

_Chapter 1_

_Go..._

A teen grudgingly opened his eyes. He was covered in mud and in the middle of the forest. He looked up at the stars overhead and tried to get a feel for what time of night it was. The moon was out directly overhead and shining bright, giving him a fair bit of light to see with.

Sitting up, the teen scratched the back of his head. As he did this, he saw what looked like a lot of light coming from the west. A settlement probably. Maybe a place he could get cleaned up at.

He also had a fair amount of back pain set in. The pain was excruciating for the teen, but not enough to prevent him from what he needed to do.

The teen was dressed in a rather normal set of clothing. Starting at his feet he wore a pair of heavy-duty, black, and very worn combat boots. Under those boots were a pair of white, moisture-wicking socks. His pants were a pair of standard blue jeans, although they were torn and rather dirty. Moving up to his torso, the teen wore a sleek black jacket and a white tee shirt with a purple eagle on the chest with its wings spread in an ancient roman style. Both the jacket and the shirt had a long tear down the middle of the back. To cover this, the teen wore a backpack full of an assortment of things. Moving to his hands, the teen wore black gloves that only covered a third of the finger on each hand except for the ring finger. Because the teen didn't have either of his ring fingers, he had cut that off and sewed it closed. On his head, the teen wore a black cavalier hat with a large purple feather. The hat was flat all around his head and was the only thing on the teen that didn't look like it belonged in the trash.

Taking off his backpack, the teen delved into one of the side pockets and pulled out a small plastic Ziploc bag that contained a mixture of herbs and in black sharpie had 'Health Mix' written on it.

Opening up the bag the teen then began his process for consuming food. Opening his mouth, the teen then let his stomach come outside of his body, connected by the intestines and muscles, the stomach revealed itself to be a three-pronged organ. The lower two prongs were rounded off and more mean for grabbing while the upper one had a long six-inch talon on the end of it, much like an eagle's.

Diving into the baggie, the stomach ejected digestive enzymes from the talon. This liquified the mixture of herbs and allowed the teen to drink the mixture, again through the talon, like a long straw. And as soon as he was finished, his stomach then retreated into his mouth and back into its place inside his body.

It wasn't long after this that the pain in his back subdued to a tolerable level.

Seeing no other real option, he picked himself up and began the hike towards the settlement. It didn't take him long to cover the distance as the ground was easy to traverse despite the mud.

Once there, the teen stopped and looked up at a road sign illuminated by light about forty meters away from where he was.

Jump City.

An interesting name for an interesting place. The teen had never been to a city before! The thought of going to one excited him.

However, just as he was about to take off and begin exploring the land, something in the sky caught his eye. He looked up and watched as what looked like a shooting star falling out of the sky and towards the city.

Never being one to let the opportunity of adventure and discovery elude him, the teen, with a smile on his face, hurried towards the place where the star crashed.

However, the young teen was stopped in his tracks when a group of people went running. The teen was quick to dive behind some garbage cans as he waited for them to pass, which they did rather quickly.

Suddenly the teen had second thoughts about what he was doing. He had no idea that there were people here. His previous experiences with people had never been good ones. It usually ended up with him in a fight and either kicking butt or getting his handed to him.

Despite this, the teen was a good fighter. He knew he could take care of himself, as he had been doing so for a long time. However, when his push turned into their shove, the teen was also completely fine with retreating and/or hiding. And if all else failed, he had a handful of tricks up his sleeve that had never failed him.

Collecting himself, the teen decided to push on into the city tards the crash site. It didn't take him long to reach it and take a look at the situation in front of himself, which confused him greatly.

The teen was looking at four people, three males one female. It looked like the female was taking the three males head-on in a fight. Which the teen found odd since rarely saw people fighting each other. They always were after him.

Regardless, the teen could tell that the female was not good news. She raised her hands and began firing green orbs of energy at the trio as they rushed for cover. When they did, the teen observed her then fly over their cover and target them, causing them all to scramble.

The teen, never one to shy away from a fight he thought he could win, decided to test himself against the flying female.

Drawing his flare gun out of his backpack, he loaded in what he called a 'bounce fire flare' and took aim. The flying female paused in the air for a prolonged moment as she had her sights set on the one dressed in green, red, yellow and black.

With the target less than twenty meters away from him, the flare found its mark and hit her in the left arm, just barely missing her hair.

The flare hit her and bounced towards the ground, continued to burn on its way down. Luckily for the teen who had fired the flare, due to his extensive efforts to modify the flares to make them more useful in combat paid off.

When the flare hit the flying girl, it spewed out a small vial of gasoline designed to spray outwards upon contact with the target. From there, the flare would light the gas on fire and leave a nasty burn mark.

The female cried out in pain as she was quick to turn her sights to the teen who had fired it. As she looked down on him, he was already loading another, deadlier flare, into his one-shot flare gun. One he called 'sticky explosive flare.'

The female was quick to put out the flames on the back of her arm as a popped fire hydrant nearby made fire a less than effective tool.

Once the fire was out, the teen fired an explosive flare at the female. The explosive inside of this one was weak, but more designed to send the flare sparks flying outwards and cause confusion.

The flying girl saw it and quickly blasted it with a green orb that caused it to explode mid-air, closer to the teen who had fired it than he had wanted it too.

With his fast reflexes, the teen quickly ducked back behind cover. Once all of the flames of the explosive flare passed the teen, he quickly peeked back out from the alley and took aim with his reloaded flare gun only to find that the girl was no longer there.

The teen, before he could even react, then took a massive blow to his right side, in the soft part between his ribs and hips. This sent him flying several feet and lose grip of his flare gun.

Hitting the ground hard, the teen didn't let that slow him down and he quickly rolled over towards the direction he had just been sent from and saw the female taking aim at him with her green orbs.

Firing a volley, the teen was quick to react, sitting up and then pushing himself backward in a seated position quickly. However, the female was quick to adjust her aim and landed a hit on him, but it didn't hurt him and he shrugged it off.

Seeing no other option, the teen quickly dropped his backpack and slid over it. From his back extended two black tentacles made out of pure muscle. These were then quick to pick up a nearby car and move it in front of the downed teen to give him a chance to get on his feet.

The female then flew up over the vehicle just as the teen let the tentacles retreat into his back and he retrieved his backpack. She then aimed at him and was about to unleash another volley on the teen when she was taken by surprise as another explosive, one the teen hadn't fired off. This caused her to cover her face and close her eyes and fall to the ground.

"Over here!" The teen heard someone call out.

The teen looked over to see the three he watched fight the girl earlier. They were behind a bus and had been watching him take on the female. Quickly deciding to take his chances, the teen on the ground quickly got up and rushed over to them.

"Thanks, man, we owe ya one." The largest of the three said as the teen joined them.

The teen gave a thumbs-up as he joined the three behind their newfound cover behind the bus.

"Girl's gonna wreck the whole city." The larger teen stated.

"I won't let her." The masked one countered "We'll have to fight her and bring her down!"

The teen was quickly on board with the plan with his newfound allies. The four charged out from behind their cover only to be stopped by a massive black bird that stopped them from moving forward.

"Maybe fighting isn't the answer." A female dressed in a blue cloak said walking out form a different alley.

This caused the masked teen to think for a bit before telling the group to "Stand down."

The teen looked in shock being told to stand down. His eyes went wide and the large teen spoke for him.

"What, you think you da boss or somethin?" He asked in an angry tone.

"Just give me a chance." He ordered.

The teen smiled as he was fairly confident that the masked one was going to get his teeth kicked in by this exceptionally tough female.

The group then watched as the masked teen then approached the downed female. She was quick to raise hostilities with him again, however, he put both of his hands up and somehow managed to calm her down.

Doing quite possibly the dumbest thing the teen had ever seen, the masked person willingly freed the female from her bonds.

"There, now maybe we can-" The masked teen started before getting cut off by the female who pulled him in for a kiss.

The kiss lasted a good five seconds before he was then thrown to the ground.

"If you wish to live, you will leave me alone." She warned before flying away.

The teen blinked a few times before looking at the rest of the group.

"You're gonna go after her, aren't ya?" The big teen asked.

"I have to know if she's a threat." The masked one responded.

"Probably to see if you can get another kiss." The masked teen then grumbled.

"I appreciate the help." The masked teen then said before walking off.

The teen then watched as everyone went their separate directions. Everyone expects the skinny green one.

First, he ran up to the masked teen asking to see if he could tag along with him. When he got rejected, he then went to the blue cloak one and got rejected again.

"What about you?" The green kid asked the teen.

The teen turned away and shook his head.

"Aw, come on!" The green kid insisted "Maybe we can get a pizza or catch a movie!"

While both of these sounded quite interesting to the teen, quite frankly, he needed to bathe. That fight with the female had worked up a sweat, combined with the fact that he hadn't bathed for over twenty-four hours means he needed one bad.

However, fate would not let him get away as it wasn't too long after the teen began walking away that he was drawn back to the skinny green kid when he shouted "DUDE!"

Quickly spinning back, the teen saw a massive, croissant looking thing flying overhead.

The teen then watched as it then flew over to an island and dropped what looked like a massive pen into the ground before projecting what looked like an overgrown gecko above it with a stern warning. Do not interfere with the apparently alien girl.

The teen now really wanted to interfere as he wasn't one to back down from a fight. And whatever these gecko mutant were, he was going to kick their butts or get his kicked. Either way, the teen was more than eager to fight them.

And he wasn't the only one as this stern warning brought the little crew of five back together. And it wasn't long after that, that the big one, skinny green one and masked teen all agreed to work together.

Naturally, the teen was more than happy to tag along. He gave a smile and a vigorous nod of approval and began following the team.

The girl in the blue cloak needed a little bit of convincing before she decided to hop in and join the crew.

"So, what can I call all of you?" The masked teen asked.

"You can call me Beast Boy!" The skinny green one was quick to respond.

"Um, I guess you can call me Cyborg." The big teen answered.

"Raven." The female in the blue cloak responded.

All eyes then set upon the teen. When he didn't respond the crew stopped and looked at him.

"Well?" The masked teen asked in a calm and kind tone.

The teen then tried his best to act out something.

"Are you mute?" Raven asked.

The teen pointed at her and nodded.

"Mute?" Beast Boy asked, "So like you can't talk at all?"

The teen nodded.

"Can you write?" The masked teen asked.

The teen nodded.

"Here." The masked teen said handing him a small notepad and pen "Write down your name."

The teen then did as instructed.

"Polybius." The masked teen readout loud "I'm Robin."

Polybius then tried to give the masked teen his pen and paperback, but he refused.

"Keep it." Robin said "That's how we'll communicate. You write down something and just hand it off to one of us."

Polybius nodded as the group then pressed forward.

It wasn't long until the group found the alien girl stuffing her face with all sorts of food. And not long after that, the crew found themselves giving ground to her as she aimed those green orbs at them.

After a quick discussion about the term 'nice' and a subsequent finding out that the girl was taken as a slave, this lead the group to agree to stop the alien lizards from taking her back.

And subsequently, the crew found themselves in a fight with the lizard people from another world.

Polybius found himself in a fight with three of them all at the same time. Their gold staffs that fired red orbs weren't very effective against Polybius. Polybius was able to easily avoid any and every shot fired at him.

Digging into his backpack, Polybius drew out his stone ax. The ax was by no means sharp and it acted more like a club than a tool for chopping through wood. But it did make for an effective weapon.

Squaring up with the first one, Polybius was quick to easily doge the thrust from the staff from the first lizard person. Polybsiu then reached up and swung his club and knocked off his feet and out cold.

The other two, upon seeing this, decided to work together and quickly rushed the armed teen. Upon seeing this, Polybius was quick to respond by simply doing a quick side roll out of the path of the two.

Unable to change course, one of them quickly crashed itself into a wall. The other one meanwhile was able to stop itself before they too flew into the wall.

What they were not quick enough to do was prevent themselves from getting clobbered by Polybius, who quickly lunged himself in a jump attack. Hitting the thing hard in the back, the force of the blow caused it to stumble forward. However, the teen stayed close to him and knocked him off his feet next, causing him to hit the ground.

To finish off the lizard creature, Polybius brought the stone club over his hand and came down hard and bashed the lizard creature's face with the club, causing it to lose consciousness.

Polybius turned back to see that the rest of his allies had soundly beaten the lizard creatures. This caused those who hadn't been knocked out to withdraw.

Polybius gave a small fist pump into the air in victory as he turned back to the rest of his team.

"I believe the term is 'thank you.'" The alien girl said.

Polybius gave two thumbs up and a big smile.

"Fools!" The lizard king said.

The lizard douchebag then went on to blab about how he was going to destroy the city. And it wasn't long after that that Polybius found himself inside the giant flying croissant.

The team then navigated their way up to the command bridge where the lizard king was giving orders to fire the weapon. Something which had already been disabled by the group by the time they reached this point.

Polybius once again found himself in a fight with these lizard people. This time, the teen drew out his flare gun in his left hand and his club in his right, Polybius loaded in a 'bounce explosive flare' into his gun. Taking aim at the closest lizard person, Polybius fired his flare gun.

Letting the flare bounce off his chest, the lizard creature laughed at Polybius.

"Is that the best you can do?" The lizard creature taunted.

The flare then proceeded to explode and catch several of the lizard people in its blast. All of them caught on fire as they panicked and withdrew out of the fight.

"Easy Polybius!" Robin shouted, "We don't want to hurt ourselves too!"

Polybius nodded as he put away his flare gun and opted for his stone club. He only needed the one flare because by doing that, Polybius had single-handedly reduced their numbers by half.

The armed teen then took a back seat in the fight, watching his allies to see how they fought and observed them.

The fight dragged on for a while before Raven took things to the next level and blew up the bridge and caused the ship to fall out of the sky, effectively taking care of the rest of the lizard people expect for the lizard king.

Naturally, with said king being so mad about his giant flying croissant, he was about ready to kill Raven when Cyborg intervened at the last minute with his newfound weapon. A sonic cannon that he built into his arm.

"Boyah." Cyborg stated in victory.

By dawn the next day, the crew found themselves on the tiny island, discussing whether or not to form a team.

Cyborg, Robin, Beast Boy and the alien who was called 'Starfire' were all on board with this. Polybius and Raven, however, were apprehensive.

Despite this, Polybius was willing to try something new and agreed to join the new team the four were forming up. And with his submission, Raven too joined in and the Teen Titans were born.

**And there you have it! How our hero Polybius met the Titans. Being in the right placer at the right or wrong time. I hope I provided a good escape from your busy day and that you enjoy the rest of it!**

**Have a good one and hope see you in Chapter 2!**


	2. Chapter 2: Establishment

_Chapter 2_

_Establishment..._

Polybius woke up and for a brief moment, forgot where he was. But his mind was quick to remind him that he was in his new home of the newly built Titan's tower. He sat up in his bed and looked around his room that he spent a great deal of time yesterday arranging into a fashion of his liking.

Starting at his bed, Polybius positioned his bed at an angle with the window so that way he could wake up and look outside first thing. The head of his bed was up against the wall, and as for the window (when laying in his bed) was to his right. To his left was the door to his room.

Moving back to his right side, directly to the right of the bed but not under the window was a desk with a swivel chair and a laptop, a stand for his cavalier hat, and a few other personal items hidden inside the drawers.

Moving towards the window, Polybius had positioned a rocking chair so he could sit back and watch the outside. Which was nothing but ocean as his window was facing west.

On the far wall furthest from the bed was a wall of shelves and an opening for his closet. Presently there wasn't much on those shelves aside from a few items Polybius had taken out of his backpack, which was currently sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed.

On the wall between the shelves and the door was a large bulletin board with several tacks ready to be used. Currently, the only thing on the board was the BS 'welcome letter' Robin had created up in a hurry to look more professional.

And lastly, on the left side of his bed was a small nightstand with a glass of water and a lamp on it. Otherwise, the rest of his room was open and walls rather bare.

Looking over at the widow, Polybius saw the early morning sun's light dancing on the ocean waters. The black of the night sky was giving way to orange as the sun rose up from the ground.

Reaching over to his stand Polybius grabbed his glass of water and quickly downed what was left of it. He was thankful that he only had to bring his stomach out of his body for digesting food and could drink fluids like the other Titans.

Speaking of Titans, Polybius hadn't really gotten to know any of them that well. Despite only a month passing since the team had formed up, Polybius hadn't interacted with them much at all. He was both too standoffish and nervous to try and get their attention. However, he did get a good idea of who they were after watching them in the motel they had been crashing in for the past month.

Starting with the hastily appointed leader Robin, Polybius had a respect for the young leader. He was certainly determined to make this work and went out of his way to get Polybius involved. Even if it was just with crappy legal matters that he just had Polybius sit in on, it felt good to be involved in something.

Moving to the largest Titan in the group, Cyborg, Polybius saw many similarities between the two. While Polybius had very little technical experience, barely knowing his way around his own laptop, it was in craftsmanship that the two had bonded over. That being the design and construction of the tower.

While Robin, and by small extension the others, had offered ideas as to the design of the tower, ultimately it was Polybius and Cyborg who designed it. Using the plans Cyborg was able to maximize the efficiency of the tower's systems while Polybius was able to maximize the physical space, cramming a lot of stuff into small rooms with a sense organization still evident.

And while Cyborg had plans for stuff in every room, Polybius's proposal won, leaving many rooms in the tower absolutely empty and ready for storage or guest rooms should the Titans ever expand their roster.

As for Beast Boy, the two had few interactions since that fateful day they happened to cross paths and had yet to really find any common ground to bond over. This was in part Polybius's fault as he would avoid eating with the other Titans, opting to eat on his own out of sight of prying eyes. This was because he was afraid of how they would react seeing him extend his stomach out of his body to digest his food externally. He was afraid of being shunned for that.

As for Starfire, it was abundantly clear that she was very positive. She had more than enough positivity for both of them. This was something Polybius needed in his life and while the two hadn't interacted much, the aura she gave off was enough to reach him anywhere he was.

And lastly, as for Raven, Polybius had grown fond of the magic girl. While the two had only interacted twice since that fateful day, there was one thing she did that he loved about her, and set her apart from all of the other Titans. She gave him time to respond.

While this may seem like a small thing at first, one thing quickly became clear to Polybius is when he 'talked' with the other Titans as much as a mute man could, it was more like they were talking at him. The others, even Robin, just tended to talk and talk and not give him a chance to respond with the notepad Robin had given him.

This had led to Polybius learning more about the others than they knew about him. This was alright with the young teen, but it could get annoying at times. Especially when Polybius had something important to say.

And then there was Raven. While she wasn't the most social person to ever live, the fact that when she spoke to him she gave him the time he needed to write down a response meant a lot to Polybius.

Putting down the empty glass, the teen stood up and stretched out, the pain in his back quickly telling him he had made a mistake.

Winching in pain, the teen reached into the lone drawer of his nightstand and pulled out a small baggie labeled 'health mix.' After quickly digesting it, the pain in his back almost vanished as it always did when he took his medication.

After consuming the health mix, Polybius then remembered that he needed to get the seeds planted for the herbs to make his health mix so that way when he ran out, he wouldn't get hammered by the constant excruciating pain.

Quickly grabbing his hat and backpack with the seeds inside, Polybius exited his room and traveled towards the stairs. As he did, he just so happened to run into the alien girl Starfire.

"Greetings friend Polybius!" Starfire greeted the mute Titan "What are you planning on doing on this glorious first full day in our new home!?"

Pulling out his notepad, Polybius scribbled down that he had seeds he needed to plant in the garden he had gotten Robin to let him plant.

"I didn't know you were interested in such activities!" Starfire proclaimed.

Polybius nodded.

"That does make sense. You are the most 'outdoorsy' person among us." Starfire stated.

There was a moment of silence as Polybius watched Starfire's body language. It was clear that she wanted to ask him something, but she was nervous too.

"Please friend, might I join you in the planting of the seeds of plant life?" Starfire asked with the expected sense of nervousness in his voice.

Polybius smiled and nodded.

"Oh, wonderful!" Starfire shouted as her face lit up with happiness "Come! Let us not waste anymore of the light of the day!"

Grabbing hold of her new friend, the alien quickly flew down the stairs and outside. Polybius had already marked off the area he planned to plant the seeds yesterday. It was a rather large area and everything already predetermined. The mute teen knew where each seed was going to go and all they had left to do was plant them.

Once at the garden, Starfire finally let go of Polybius and she turned to look at him.

"You are heavier than you look friend, Polybius." Starfire commented.

Polybius put his hands on his hips and gave Starfire a hurt look. His body language was enough for Starfire to pick up on what.

"Oh I- I'm so sorry!" Starfire quickly said stumbling over her words "I didn't mean you were fat, I- I mean that- that you, um…"

Polybius then dropped the act by letting a smile come across his face and shaking his head. He then gave the alien girl a flick of his wrist.

"What does that mean?" Starfire asked.

Using his notepad, Polybius wrote down an appropriate response and handed it to her.

"Are you sure you are not upset, friend?" Starfire asked.

Polybius nodded. Quite frankly, he didn't care. He knew why he was heavier and he didn't have to explain it to anybody. He wasn't fat, he was thick-skinned.

"If you are certain it is okay, then let us move on." Starfire stated.

Polybius then took off his backpack and pulled out the seed bags, each bag labeled which plant seed was inside of it and the two set to work.

With Starfire's help, it didn't take long for the seeds to be planted, only an hour. However, in that hour, Starfire managed to tell Polybius a little bit more about herself.

Polybius mostly learned more about her homeworld, Tamaran. From what Polybius gathered, it sounded like a beautiful planet full of massive fauna and strange flora. That being said, it also sounded like the flora wasn't as abundant as it was on Earth. As to the cause of this, Starfire never covered. However, from what the mute Titan pieced together, it sounded like either a mass extinction event had occurred on the planet very recently. Sadly taking most of the oversized fauna with it.

Once the garden was complete, the two looked over their work.

"And what purpose do these plants serve?" Starfire suddenly asked pointed to the Aloe Vera.

Polybius wrote down 'medical plant' in his notebook and let Starfire read it.

"So they heal you?" Starfire asked, to which Polybius nodded "That is good to hear that we will have these plants available to us when we need them."

Polybius smiled knowing full well Starfire was most likely never going to use these plants. Same as the rest of the Titans. The mute teen was growing these for himself and his severe back pain.

"Come, friend, let us see if our other friends are awake yet!" Starfire said as the two-headed inside.

Once up in the common room, the two found Cyborg and Beast Boy trying out the new Gamestation system. Robin was finishing his breakfast and Raven was nowhere to be seen.

"Good morning friends!" Starfire greeted "I Starfire and our friend Polybius have finished the garden!"

"Garden?" Beast Boy asked, "I didn't know we were growing food."

"Polybius says it's more for him, but I'm sure we can all reap the benefits of having such a wonderful assortment of plants at our disposal!" Starfire proclaimed.

Polybius gave two thumbs up in a look of fake excitement on his face.

After dropping the act, Starfire went over to the two boys who were playing their game. Polybius meanwhile, took a seat at the table across from Robin.

"Morning Polybius." Robin greeted, to which the mute Titan waved back "You ready for our first combat practice today?"

Polybius nodded.

"Good." Robin said, "At least somebody else is looking forward to it."

Polybius waited for Robin to explain, but he never did. Instead, he just went back to his meal leaving Polybius hanging.

"Come on man, it's my turn!" Polybius heard Cyborg suddenly say.

"No way man! I've still got some time on my turn!" Beast Boy turned.

"You'll never beat that level with the amount of time you got left, give it here!" Cyborg retorted.

Polybius looked back to see the two had entered a tug of war over the controller and Starfire helplessly watched the two struggled over it.

Polybius just shook his head and turned back to Robin, who was eyeballing the situation but not doing anything to stop it.

"Want to take a round?" Robin asked, throwing Polybius off as he had no clue as to what the leader was talking about.

Robin then pointed at the game and Polybius then picked up on it. Nodding at the chance for a new experience, Robin let a small smile loose.

"How about giving us a turn." Robin then interjected.

"What!?" The two Titans in the tug of war shouted.

"You heard me." Robin said, "15 minute turns, pass the controller around and have fun!"

The two grumbled but caved to Robin. They handed the controller over to the leader, who then passed it to Polybius as the two sat on the couch.

The mute teen held the controller in his hand and examined the device. He was giving it a good look over. After thoroughly checking the device out, Polybius then held it in his hands and looked up at the screen.

"Dude, that is now how you hold it!" Beast Boy scolded the mute Titan "Have you ever played a video game?"

Polybius shook his head, taking everybody by surprise. A moment of silence followed and the mute Titan sat awkwardly as they looked at him.

"You've never played a video game before?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius nodded.

"Dang dude." Beast Boy "This is gonna be painful."

Polybius felt himself get really nervous and his grip on the controller weakened. He was having second thoughts about this and wasn't interested in causing anybody pain.

"It's alright." Robin assured him "I guess we'll have to teach you."

After a painstaking length of time that felt like an eternity, Polybius finally got a good handle on the controller and how to use it. What each button did and a few extra tips for the game he was about to play.

"Alright, let's get you through the first level." Robin said.

The game Polybius was about to play was something called 'Star Quests Deluxe.' From the teen's understanding, it appeared to be some sort of game where you had to fly through space, avoid obstacles and fight the enemy all at the same time.

"Let's go!" Cyborg said as the loading screen appeared.

"Greetings Polybius." The game started up in a distinct female voice.

Polybius suddenly felt nauseous as he looked up at the screen and watched the ship fly through space.

"Your mission is to come back to me, Polybius." The voice spoke.

His eyes focused on the lady in the box. She morphed into a very familiar face in front of Polybius.

"Come back to me Polybius." She said, "I miss you, so much."

Polybius suddenly snapped out of his trance and flung the controller forward and put his hands on his head and closed his eyes. This sparked a reaction from everybody else.

"Yo!" Cyborg shouted.

"Dude!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Polybius!" Robin shouted.

Starfire gasped.

The mute Titan began shaking his head as he rushed out of the room.

"Polybius!" He heard Robin shout after him, followed by the others.

Polybius went straight to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Flipping up the toilet seat, Polybius then began the painful process of throwing up.

His stomach suddenly came up and fell out of his mouth and landed into the toilet bowl. The digestive enzymes then began spilling out from his singular talon and turned the water in the bowl a shade of gross, nasty neon green.

As the enzymes spilled out of Polybius, he could hear a fist pounding on the door.

"Polybius!" Robin shouted.

Once his body was finished vomiting, Polybius drew his stomach back inside his body and looked at the toilet bowl full of enzymes.

Shaking his head, Polybius flushed the toilet and stood up. The pounding continued on the door as Polybius made his way over to the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. What he saw was his reflection and only his.

Turning on the faucet, Polybius used the cold water and splashed it in his face. He then ran his fingers through his hair and looked back at the mirror. It was still just him, now a little wet.

"Polybius!" Robin shouted.

The teen then felt a headache set in and he put a hand on his forehead. He needed to lay down.

Walking over to the door, hand still on his head, Polybius answered it and was faced with the four Titans in the room.

"Polybius! Are you alright?" Robin asked frantically.

Polybius nodded.

"Dude, what happened?" Beast Boy asked.

Polybius then made the motion of throwing up.

"You got nauseous, didn't you?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius nodded.

"Well, I don't think we'll be doing that again." Beast Boy said.

Polybius smiled and nodded again.

"Why don't you go lay down." Robin said.

"Yes!" Starfire said "You must rest. Come, I will guide you there."

The next thing the mute teen knew, he was laying in his bed, on his back looking up at his ceiling. His breathing was heavy and a few beads of sweat ran from his forehead. Only two words ran through his mind.

Never again.

**I hoped you enjoyed Chapter 2 of this story and that it was an excellent escape from your daily life. Have a good rest of your day and see you in Chapter 3!**


	3. Chapter 3: Pain in the Field

_Chapter 3_

_Pain in the Field..._

Dragging himself out of his bed, the fear-stricken teen hauled himself towards the outdoor training field. There he met up with all of his fellow Titans and they kicked off their first official training session.

"You sure you're up for this Polybius?" Robin asked.

The mute teen nodded as he was feeling much better than he was a few hours ago. His headache had subsided and he had calmed his nerves.

"Good." Robin said before turning and facing the group "Alright Titans. Today, I want to get a feel for what you are capable of. I want to know what your skills and abilities are. Your strengths and weaknesses. So I have designed a course for each of you that should put you to the test. And it is okay to fail here."

"So what is this, like a pre-test?" Beast Boy asked.

"Sort of." Robin said, "The order is me, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Polybius and Beast Boy. Now let's get this started!"

And with that, the crew took up positions behind the control panel. Currently, only Cyborg and Robin knew how to work it, so they were the two that were leading the test.

Watching Robin step up to the start, Polybius locked his eyes on him. Robin had proven himself an admirable fighter, and a tough opponent leaving the mute teen quite eager to not only see the leader's stronger set of skills but also see the weaker ones as well.

"Alright, Robin!" Cyborg shouted from the control panel where the others were "Startin in 3, 2, 1, GO!"

With the sound of the buzzer, Robin took off. Polybius quickly noted how agile he was, easily jumping over barriers and dogging laser fire from the drones flying around him. And while they did little to slow his progress, he was able to easily dispatch them with something called a "bird-a-rang." Polybius wasn't sure exactly what it was called, but he remembered Robin told him about them once. Even going as far as to compare them to his flare gun.

One major thing Polybius did note is that as Robin moved through the course is that when he got hit, even if it was a more light tap, it was enough to stop him for a brief second. To the teen, this said to him that Robin wasn't the most malleable of fighters. Every hit he took slowed him down just a little bit, barely noticeable, but just enough to be noticed.

Despite this, however, Robin crossed the finish line with a very good time.

"New course record." Some automated female voice stated.

"That's because he's the only one to take the course." Cyborg muttered as Robin approached the group.

Next up was Starfire. Polybius already had a good idea about how she fought after fighting her when they first met. While her star bolts did a lot of damage, Polybius noted she wasn't very accurate with them. She tended to act more like a machine gun, laying down a broad hail of bolts in a general area. The small explosions and the smoke that arose from them would be more than enough to throw off an opponent, or at the very least hinder most opponent's visibility.

It wasn't long after she started, that the alien crossed the finish line. She was only a few seconds short of Robin.

"That was rather fun." Starfire stated as she traded places with Raven.

Watching Raven move through the course, it was evident that she was a serious powerhouse. Her magic was an exceptionally powerful tool at her disposal. She was able to create impassable black walls, move objects, and even destroy objects. However, before she did anything, she had to say a little chant, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." The whole thing took her at least a second to say. A very precious second.

But regardless, she blew through the course and topped Robin's score by a staggering twenty seconds.

She came back and Cyborg stepped up. He was clearly confident in his ability to beat Raven's score. Or so he thought.

One thing that Polybius did note about Cyborg is while he too was a powerhouse, his house wasn't as nearly as big as Raven's was, but still not one to be trifled with. His sonic cannon was powerful, but he certainly was also a heavy hitter. Rather than jumping over barricades like Robin, Cyborg opted just to go straight through them. Punching holes left and right, Cyborg just obliterated anything in his path. The lasers that also gave Robin trouble when he got hit with them, Cyborg was able to shrug them off. However, repeated blasts seemed to drag him down.

Regardless, Cyborg crossed the finish line only three seconds behind Raven.

"Aw, come on!" Cyborg shouted when he saw his time "Three seconds!"

Now it was Polybius's turn to run the course. As he walked over to the start he checked his backpack and looked to see what he had packed. He had his trusty flare gun as well as a dozen flares, a modern ax that was actually sharp, a climbing ax, a few health mixes, and a handful of molotovs, three makeshift explosives, a can of hairspray and his lighter.

Putting his backpack back on his back, Polybius took up his position behind the starting line. He could see the finish line only a hundred meters away. Yet between him and that finish line laid a series of obstacles that were hellbent on not letting him get there.

"You ready Polybius?" Robin asked over the microphone.

Polybius gave a thumbs up and waited for the buzzer.

BUZZ!

And with the sound, Polybius took off running. Coming up on the first obstacle, it was a low wall that was waist-high. Rather than just jumping over it as everybody else had for the sake of time, Polybius didn't. Instead, he crouched behind the wall and peeked over the top. The teen quickly began scanning the path ahead of him, trying to see what laid in his path.

What Polybius saw were the drones flying at him. Quickly reaching into his bag, Polybius drew out one of his makeshift explosives and primed it.

The explosive in question was a rather odd-looking thing. It was made up of a motherboard that once belonged in a laptop, gorilla glue, a full bottle of beer with a bunch of coins inside the bottle as well as the booze, a wristwatch, and a small amount of gunpowder.

Quickly priming the bomb, Polybius then tossed it and waited for the four-second delay before the inevitable boom.

Peeking out from behind his cover, Polybius saw that his bomb had taken out all of the drones in one fell swoop, coins sticking out from all of them.

With the main threat taken care of, Polybius got up and quickly rushed to the next covered position and played a sort of leapfrog game from covered spot to covered spot just to make sure nothing took him by surprise.

It was clear that when the drones went down, somebody at the control tower decided to turn it up a notch for the mute as Polybius got caught moving between two places of cover when two large laser towers rose up from the ground and began firing at him.

With the towers being only less than twenty meters away, Polybius found himself too hard-pressed to make it to his next position, and instead found himself being driven back to his previous position, lasers just barely missing him every step of the way.

Once Polybius got to his covered position, he found himself lying on the ground behind a two-foot-high barrier. He quickly dived into his backpack to see if he had anything that was capable of fending or fighting off this.

Polybius looked at his flare gun and decided to use it. Loading in a sticky explosive flare, Polybius peek out from cover just enough to aim his gun and…

"Come on Polybius! Use your powers!" He heard Robin call.

"Yes! Use the tentacles of your back!" Starfire cheered with glee.

"Yeah, man! Show us what they can do!" Cyborg was also heard shouting.

Polybius ignored them and fired his flare at one of the towers. The stationary tower got hit with the flare that stuck to the tower. It then blew up and destroyed the tower.

With one tower down, Polybius found himself being able to make advances again and ran right up to the base of the second tower with relative ease. Once there, Polybius found that the tower was not able to shoot directly under itself. This allowed Polybius to whip out his climbing ax and climb the tower. Once at the top, Polybius was easily able to disable it by ripping out a few critic boards and flipping a few breakers. Tucking the critic boards away in his backpack, Polybius began to slide down the tower when another wave of drones began laying down a hail of laser fire on him.

Polybius was quick to fling his climbing ax at the closest one as he quickly slid down the tower. The ax went flying through the air and buried itself in the drone, which was unable to move out of the way in time. However, two more drones quickly took its place and Polybius was now trying to make himself as skinny as possible behind the tower.

"Come on Polybius! Use your powers!" Robin shouted.

Polybius continued to ignore the leader as he pulled out the lighter and hairspray. Using the set combo as a makeshift flamethrower, the Titan spun around the corner and sprayed the two incoming drones with a fast traveling beam of fire.

"Cool!" Polybius heard Beast Boy say as the two drones became engulfed in flame and went down.

With that taken care of, Polybius once again turned and ran towards the finish line, but just as he got within twenty meters of it, a hole opened up from the ground revealing what looked like some sort of mechanical dog being raised up on a platform.

Not wasting any time, Polybius quickly took his bag off his shoulders and drew out his modern ax. Unlike the stone ax, this one was razor sharp and made of carbon steel. And the mute Titan had spent a lot of time taking care of the weapon too.

The machine began making a run towards the teen and said teen back-peddled while facing the machine, dropping his backpack on the ground. Once within jumping distance, the robot lunged itself at Polybius only to be taken by a hard strike by the sharp part of the ax. Once the blade was inside the head of the robot, the mute Titan then slammed into the ground.

With the ax so deep inside its head, Polybius had a little trouble pulling it out of the creature. This would cost him dearly as suddenly, another one of those same machines charged at Polybius.

Too late form him to move out of the way, Polybius was only able to start putting his arm up when the creature slammed into him hard.

This sent the teen flying back several feet before the creature pounced on him like a lion. It tried to bite down on Polybius with its set of blunt but electrified teeth that would have surely given anybody a good shock. But Polybius was ready.

Putting his right arm up and using all of his strength, Polybius was able to block the creature from attacking him. The neck of the robot slammed down into his arm, trapping the teen's left arm under his body.

As the machine applied more force to try and land a critical blow on the trapped mute, he was trying to wiggle his other arm free, but to no avail. It also didn't help him that his backpack too was far out of reach.

"Come on, use your powers, Polybius!" He heard somebody shout.

Alas, seeing no other options, the teen, whose face was clearly visible to the other Titans, winched in pain as one of his black tentacles shot out of his back and began to attack the creature.

Polybius wrapped the tentacle around the creature and began crushing as if there was nothing there.

With a lot of loud crunches, sparks, pops, and bangs, within a single second the machine was reduced to nothing more than a pile of scrap metal far beyond repair.

Throwing the robot off of himself, Polybius then brought his black tentacles back inside his body.

Laying on the ground for a moment, the teen took a moment to catch his breath and let the excruciating pain in his back subside. After that moment, he picked himself up, collected his items and walked across the finish line.

Polybius's time was rather abysmal compared to the others. But when he had a few extra curve balls thrown his way. Those mechanical tiger, dog things soaked up a lot of time.

Putting a hand on his back, Polybius walked over to the stand, pain clearly evident on his face.

"Polybius are you undamaged?" Starfire asked, to which Polybius shook his head.

"What happened out there?" Robin asked.

Polybius took a seat and rested his back, ignoring the leader's question.

"Come on Polybius, what happened?" Cyborg pressed.

Polybius then pulled out his notebook and wrote down in all capital letters: IT PHYSICALLY HURTS TO USE MY BACK TENTACLES!

Polybius handed the note off to Robin and he read it to the team.

"I'm sorry Polybius." Robin said, "I didn't know you had to endure pain when you used your power."

Polybius waved it off before writing down some important information down for the Titans.

"So your back tentacles are a last resort." Cyborg said, to which Polybius nodded.

"Why?" Beast Boy asked.

Polybius then used another piece of paper to then show them a visual representation of what his back, specifically his spine did when he used his powers.

Cutting a line down the middle of the paper while making sure the paper stayed connected at the top and bottom with about an inch distance from the start of the cut to the edge, Polybius then wrote 'spine' and an arrow pointing to the cut line. Holding it up for everybody to see, Polybius then pulled the paper apart so that he could see through the hole while making sure he didn't rip it apart.

"So what you're saying is that your spine splits itself open so that way the tentacles in your back can come out?" Cyborg said "Right?"

Polybius then put the paper down and then wrote 'Almost.'

The teen then went on to explain how his spine split very close to the top and then reconnected at the bottom. Its natural position was the closed position, but in order to use his back tentacles, he had to force his spine to split like, as the teen put it, Moses splitting the Red Sea. This movement caused immense pain to the teenage hero. So much so that while his back tentacles were very powerful, he used them as a last resort because of how much it hurt not only using them but the pain he felt afterwards that would keep him down for a few hours.

"Geez, I'm so sorry Polybius." Robin said, "I'll make sure to note that for later on."

Polybius game a small smile.

"Well, that sucks." Cyborg said, looking out at the pile of scrap metal that had once been a major threat to Polybius "It's a real shame you can't use them because you turned that mechanical tiger into scrap in less than a second after you wrapped it up in your tentacle. Lookin at it you'd think it got teleported to the bottom of the ocean and got crushed by the pressure down there."

Polybius smiled at that comment. The teen knew how much power he could throw down when he utilized his powers. If he wasn't dragged down by the unbearable pain of having his spine split open, his tentacles would make quick work of any opponent.

"Please, Polybius, is there anything I can do to help relieve your pain?" Starfire asked.

Polybius shook his head. He knew it would be a few hours before the pain in his back receded to the normal amount he was used to.

Not long after that, Beast Boy went through the course, but Polybius was in too much pain to pay serious attention to the green animal shifter. He blew through the course and soon Robin gave his little end of training briefing.

"Great work Titans." He started "Today you showed us your weaknesses and your strengths. And how you operate in a hostile environment. From here we are going to work on our strengths and weaknesses. So expect something more challenging tomorrow.

And with that, everybody was dismissed. Starfire, being the kind and caring soul she is, went straight to Polybius after the training was over.

"Are you certain you can carry on by yourself?" She asked the pain engulfed teen.

Polybius nodded and Starfire left him alone. And as Polybius took a moment to prepare himself for the journey back up to his room, Raven visited him.

"This might help." She said as she approached him.

Walking up behind him, she used her powers to ease his pain.

The effect was immediate and extremely good. Reducing his pain almost immediately, Polybius felt a wave of relief wash over him. The euphoria in his head was a terrific feeling for the mute.

After a minute of the pain relief magic, Raven stopped and the pain, while it did come back, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been just moments prior.

"Better?" Raven asked.

Polybius nodded happily.

"If you ever need it again, just ask." Raven assured him before walking off.

With that, the teen then made the long hike up to his room and sat down in his bed. However, once his eyes set on his laptop, he decided to hop on that.

One thing that had long intrigued the teen was the internet. His experiences with it had been rather lackluster thus far. He often found himself only being able to access a few websites for whatever reason. However, those restrictions were gone. He could finally check out this "YouTube," "Google" and "Reddit" he remembered hearing about at some point in his life.

Starting with the first, Polybius plugged in the website address of Youtube and began browsing what was in front of him.

Polybius was unimpressed. Most of what he saw was rather unappealing to him. Mostly music videos or just weird looking people doing even weirder things. There were also a few animations on there as well, but they didn't look all that interesting to Polybius.

Moving on to Google, the teen was far more impressed with what he saw. Having almost the entire world at his fingertips was truly amazing, to say the least.

Then came Reddit.

Upon first inspection of the site, it didn't seem all that bad. Mostly news and large open forums where people were free to discuss anything. And it was literally anything.

Needless to say the deeper Polybius dug into Reddit, the more interesting it became. He discovered that there were entire communities dedicated to something. Like a game or content creator. There was even one for the Titans with over ten thousand members.

But one thing that did disturb Polybius upon his search for the Titan's Reddit page was that there was also a page dedicated to nothing more than porn of them. Not only that, but that community was nearly six times as large as the one not dedicated to porn.

Polybius stared at this for a good long moment, internally debating whether or not to explore the one about porn and the horrors that laid just a click away.

Ultimately, Polybius decided against it. He was exceptionally scared of what he may find there and he was already disturbed enough by its existence.

After seeing that, Polybius exited out of the internet and slowly closed his laptop. He made his way over to his window in a slow fashion. He looked out to see the sun was just about to set below the horizon.

As the teen watched the sun set he began shaking his head. Never again was he going to go to Reddit if that was the state of the website. Just the thought of people cosplaying or doing very detailed art of his friends, or worse, him, and then doing porn was not a good sitting thought. All the horrors that laid in that subreddit were things Polybius was not going to explore ever.

What made things so much worse is that both him and his friends were all underage. Polybius and Cyborg were sixteen, Polybius older by a few months. Robin was fifteen, soon to be sixteen. Starfire was also fifteen while Raven and Beast Boy were both fourteen, the green Titan being the one further away from his birthday.

Fortunately for the teen, he would be brought out of his disturbing thoughts by the crime alert. Their first true mission!

The team formed up in the main room and quickly got the details of their first mission. It was a bank robbery that seemed pretty standard from the look of the quick report. Polybius assumed it was probably some guys who hadn't quite gotten the message that there was a new superhero team in town.

And when the team got there, it was exactly that. And when the six heroes showed up, the three robbers crapped their pants and rolled over for the team. It was kinda sad in the mute teen's mind. Everybody was looking for some serious action now that they were out in full force. Something to put them to the test. Not lowlifes who surrender as soon as the heroes showed up.

"Aw man!" Cyborg said as the team exited the bank "I was hoping for some serious butt-whooping! Noth that!"

"Fear not friends." Starfire said "Our time to shine will come soon!"

"It better." Cyborg grumbled as the team formed up.

"Hey! At least we won our first mission!" Beast Boy said, "And to celebrate, I say we go get pizza!"

"Oh yes!" Starfire agreed "The pizza of victory sounds absolutely wonderful!"

"Pizza does sound like a good idea." Cyborg agreed.

"Why not!" Robin agreed "Come on Titans, let's go get some pizza."

As the group took off, Polybius held back. He hadn't told them about his stomach, or how he digested food externally yet. He was afraid that they would be too disgusted or scared to accept him. That they would shun him for it.

Watching the Titans walk away, the teen turned away and began his hike back towards the tower. They didn't need to know about that yet, and if it were up to him, they wouldn't learn about that. Polybius was quite thankful that none of them noticed that he didn't follow them.

As Polybius walked back towards the tower, he took a shortcut through the small park in the city. It was getting late so all of the children were off the playgrounds and now it was mostly teenagers around his age screwing around.

Some were just groups of friends goofing around on the children's playground equipment. Others were just standing around talking. And of course, there were a few that were being all romantic and lovey dubby. Kissing each other passionately and getting all romantic. Quite frankly, those teens made Polybius feel a little sick just by looking at them. Or in the case of the louder ones, hearing them.

However, just as Polybius was coming up on his exit of the park, a group of rather rough-looking teens walked in the exit he was about to take.

At first, the group didn't notice Polybius, as the mute teen tried to make himself look smaller than he actually was. But as they got closer to each other, the group began snickering.

"Oh look, it's one of dem Titans." One of the teens said.

"Polybius, right?" Another one asked.

"More like Whoosie-bus." One said, causing the others to laugh.

Polybius could hear all of this and kept his head low. Trying to get past them, but he was stopped when two of them cut him off.

"Look at this loser." One of the males said "Ladies say you're quite handsome and attractive. I disagree. You look and smell like a rottin deer."

"I think you're wrong, my dude." Another one in the group said "No homo, but dang, this dude is freakin hot! And he don't smell all dat bad. Fact he smells pretty good. Although he looks a lot taller on TV."

"Maybe that's why all the girls at school drool over him." The third one said, "Well expect Kittin and her crew."

"Bah! Whatever man! Point is, I'm so tired of my girl sayin that she'd leave me if you came by and asked her out!"

Polybius looked up at the teen with a confused look on his face.

"So I'm gonna beat you up to prove I'm the better man!" The teen declared.

Polybius's mind began scouring his knowledge for an answer as to the teen's logic. The confusion on his face grew as the teen took off his coat.

"Fight me!" The teen demanded.

The confusion vanished from Polybius's face and he went to a blank look. A few seconds later, Polybius let a large, rather devilish looking smile come across his face before nodding his head.

Standing upright, Polybius suddenly went from what looked like a weak little dude, to the massive teen he really was.

Standing up at six feet tall, Polybius looked down on the Robin height teen, who had a look of terror come across his face.

"Uh…" The teen said as he soaked in Polybius's intimidating size difference.

"Dude! Get out of there!" One of his friends said, "He's gonna beat you!"

"N- No!" The teen stuttered in response "H-He's just a bigger Robin! Yeah! And I could totally kick Robin's butt! And he's not even as good a fighter as Robin!"

That statement stopped Polybius. Did people really look at him like nothing more than a bigger, scarier, but not as good Robin?

"No way dude!" The other teen replied "You're on your own for dis one! Ight, imma head out!"

The teen who was squaring up with Polybius suddenly found himself alone and outmatched. He was clearly having second thoughts about fighting Polybius.

Polybius meanwhile was existing in two trains of thought at once. Part of his mind was focused on the opponent in front of him while the other train was thinking about how people saw him as a lame Robin.

"Man, screw this!" The teen said he began to approach Polybius.

This was a mistake as the train of thought about his image left his mind and Polybius's whole mind focused on fighting this teen.

The teen let out a rather pathetic roar as he tried to swing a right hook at Polybius. This was a mistake as Polybius caught the punch mid-air and stopped it dead in its path.

"Let me go you freak!" The teen shouted, but to no avail.

Polybius then did a quick sweep under the teen's feet, knocking him to the ground, while never letting go of the fist.

"Agh!" The teen shouted as he hit the ground.

Polybius was then quick to take a hard stomp into the teen's chest. Planting his foot in the center of the teen's chest, Polybius then took a knee and braced the right arm of the teen on his leg.

Using minimal pressure and force, Polybius then broke the teen's arm in a clean break, causing the joint at the elbow to completely dislocate.

"Ah- aaahh!" The teen cried out in pain as a loud snap of bone was heard.

Polybius then let the teen go as he laid on the ground in pain. He was not getting up from this and the fight was over.

After the fight, Polybius waved down a passing cop car and got the teen the medical attention he needed. When asked if he wanted to press charges against the teen, Polybius said no. He quite frankly didn't care about the teen and while jail would be a good place for him, there was no need for that. Polybius had taught him a good enough lesson.

However, as the ambulance left, Polybius's mind drifted back to what the teen had said.

"He's just a bigger Robin! Yeah! And I could totally kick Robin's butt! And he's not even as good a fighter as Robin!" Rang through the mute teen's mind.

This thought lingered in his mind as he began to make his way home. He couldn't help but compare himself to Robin as he walked. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he was a lot like Robin in many ways.

This was strange for Polybius as he was not sure what he was feeling. But he didn't want to be seen as just a 'bigger, but not as awesome' Robin. He wanted to be seen as Polybius! As the individual he was. And currently, the only thing Polybius had going for him is that he had Robin didn't look all that much alike, but that clearly wasn't enough. He needed to find a way for people to see him as his own person! As Polybius!

Once he decided to set on this personal mission of his, he had only one question in his mind. How as he going to achieve this goal?

**And that is it for Chapter 3!**

**I hope you enjoyed it and have a good rest of your day!**


	4. Chapter 4: Friendship

_Friendship..._

"Dude, that's freaking awesome!" Beast Boy proclaimed "And that's why it's the best movie in the franchise!"

"No way!" Cyborg said "The CGI is way too overdone in that movie! The first one is way better because the monster actually looks real!"

As Cyborg and Beast Boy argued over the movie franchise, Raven just tuned them out. However, they were getting louder and louder. And this wasn't made any better when Starfire jumped in in an attempt to break them up.

Seeing as she wasn't going to be able to concentrate here, she left the main room, headed downstairs and outside.

Walking over to the shore of the island, Raven looked out at the city. The place was rather quiet and calm. And when she didn't see anybody, she levitated herself in the air and began to meditate.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" She repeated over and over to herself.

After a solid hour of meditating, she finally opened her eyes and returned her feet to the ground. She looked out at the city again and soaked in the rather beautiful view.

"That's quite pretty." Raven commented to herself as she took in the view.

Turning back, Raven was stopped when she saw Polybius. She couldn't see what he was doing, but it looked like he was focusing on whatever was by his feet.

Deciding to check it out, she walked over towards the mute Titan to see that he was looking down at some plants. The one he and Starfire had planted a few weeks ago. Specifically, he was looking at an Aloe Vera plant that didn't look like it was doing so well. It looked like it was in a state of limbo between life and death and it was clear that Polybius knew it.

Watching Polybius, she watched as the teen pulled out a razor blade from his backpack and cut the plant down. Leaving its roots and base of its stem intact. She then watched as he put it into a bag with a label she couldn't read from where she was before putting it back in his backpack.

Standing up, she watched as the Titan examined the other plants in his 'garden.' Raven was quite familiar with all of the plants Polybius was growing. She had used them in health potions in the past. And with the amount of pain Polybius had with his back, it didn't surprise her that he was growing these plants. He, just like her, knew about the healing properties of the plants. Just what Polybius was doing wasn't magical, but more scientifical.

Raven then began to approach the older Titan who was cutting down some Marigolds.

"Kinda late for gardening, isn't it?" Raven asked, referring to the sun that was getting rather low.

Polybius looked up at her and smiled before returning to his work.

"These plants." Raven said, "What do you grow them for?"

Polybius then pointed to himself.

"For yourself?" Raven asked, "To help with your back pain?"

Polybius nodded.

"You know, I could make some potions with these to help you." Raven stated as she looked at some of the Marigolds.

Polybius smiled and shook his head.

The teen then finished up gathering the last few Marigolds and put the smaller baggie in his backpack.

"Are you sure?" Raven said, "My magic can probably make a longer-lasting potion than whatever you're making."

Polybius then pulled out his notebook and wrote something down before showing it to Raven.

"I understand. It takes time to build that trust." Raven said, "But I promise Polybius that I won't intentionally hurt you."

Polybius smiled again and shook his head. Without saying another word, he took off, leaving Raven standing in the 'Garden of Eden' as Beast Boy had started calling it.

Up in his room, Polybius sat down at his desk and pulled out the baggies of plants he had collected. He then began making health mixes, reusing old baggies and a few new ones Starfire had gotten for him on her last trip to the mall.

Speaking of the mall, Starfire had found a new source of entertainment for herself. Polybius meanwhile, was able to see just how sad that place actually was.

As were many malls across America, this one too was dying, unable to compete with online shopping. A handful of stores still remained inside, the more popular ones, but the mall had seen better days.

Regardless, Starfire was still able to find the place quite entertaining with that handful of stores that were still open. Mostly clothing stores and feminine products. The Sears and Gamestop, as well as the handful of other hardware stores, didn't really grab her attention all that much from what Polybius had pieced together.

Just as the mute teen was putting away the completed health mixes into the drawer of his nightstand, there was a knock at his door. Answering it, Polybius regretted doing so almost immediately.

"But you see Star, Polybius needs some new clothing." Beast Boy slyly stated, "And I'm sure he isn't doing anything important right now and would love to go to the mall of shopping with you!"

Polybius then looked down at himself. Yes, his clothing was not in good condition, but it wasn't unusable. It covered what it needed too and protected him from what it was supposed to protect him from.

"Polybius's clothing is quite damaged." Starfire commented as she passed by Beast Boy "Please friend Polybius, would you like to journey to the Earthly mall of shopping with me?"

Polybius looked back up to see Beast Boy sneaking away with a grin on his face. However, before he got out of sight, he mouthed 'Have fun' before disappearing.

"Well?" Starfire asked, "It would be a perfect chance to get you into some new clothes. And for us to do some of the hanging out."

Beast Boy was right about one thing, and it was that Polybius wasn't doing anything better. And quite frankly, going out didn't sound like a bad idea.

Polybius nodded.

"Oh, glorious!" Starfire, as she grabbed hold of his arm and Polybius, prepared himself for what was going to happen next.

As always, she took off, dragging him behind her. Flying through the air while Polybius tried to catch his breath. However, with the speed she was going at it didn't take long for the two to get to their destination. Once there, she let go of him and looked at the big sign.

Jump City's Shopping Mall.

"Come, Polybius, I have the perfect idea for what you can wear!" Starfire said as the two entered the building.

It didn't take long for Starfire to begin making different outfits that she thought Polybius would look good in.

"Oh maybe if we put you in this!" Starfire said holding up a jacket that looked like the maker was on an acid trip, "With these pants!" Starfire said holding up pants that looked about two sizes too small for the mute Titan "Oh, I love this place because the possibilities here are seemingly endless!"

From what Polybius had seen, heroes could wear whatever they wanted. And that meant literally anything. Some of the costumes he had seen heroes wear threw Polybius for a loop with how absolutely outlandish they looked.

And Polybius was starting to figure out why. With what Starfire was designing for him would give most of the heroes he had seen a run for their money.

And something that Polybius would not wear under most circumstances.

"And this would look wonderful!" Starfire said as she finished costume designing.

Starfire then revealed the horrific costume that she concocted for Polybius.

Starting at the shoes, the costume traded Polybius's combat boots for ugly looking white, green and pink tennis shoes with urine yellow socks. The pants she had chosen were still two sizes small for Polybius and looked more like candy canes. The shirt was an acid trip, and the overcoat wasn't much better. The gloves were white magician gloves. And lastly, the hat, to the mute Titan, looked like something a pimp would wear.

"Oh, you must try this on!" Starfire said.

Polybius put his hands up to his shoulders and shook his head.

Starfire looked confused for a moment.

"Huh?" She questioned, "You do not like it?"

Polybius shook his head.

"What is wrong with it?" Starfire asked.

Polybius pulled out his notebook and put all of his complaints on it as nicely as possible. And that he liked what he was wearing. He then handed this off to Starfire who read it carefully before responding.

"Oh, I see." Starfire said "Too much color, and too wild."

What put Polybius on edge was that there was no sadness in her voice. Rather she said that like she was already planning a new look for him.

"What color would you like to wear?" Starfire asked.

Polybius then pointed to the color of his jacket. Black.

"Black?" Starfire said "But Black is such a simple color. Even Raven wears more color than you!"

Polybius shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't care less what Raven wore.

"Even your jeans are a shade of dark blue, you must have more color on you than just black!"

Polybius then unzipped his jacket to reveal the white tee shirt with the purple eagle on it. Starfire looked at it and studied the bird on it.

"What creature is that?" Starfire said.

Polybius then wrote down 'eagle' on his notepad and showed her.

"Eagle?" Starfire said "Oh, I have heard about this bird. Supposedly it is a very great one!"

Polybius nodded his head as he zipped up his jacket.

"Maybe you would like to wear some more purple, and white?" Starfire offered, but Polybius shook his head.

While Polybius looked roughed up, he generally didn't see anything wrong with his outfit. It was practical and had served him very well.

"Are you certain you do not wish to change your clothing attire?" Starfire asked.

Polybius nodded. The only clothing he was interested in buying was maybe a new pair of preferably black jeans if he could get them cheap, or maybe a new jacket.

However, looking down at his boots made the teen realize that he may soon have to buy a new pair as they looked like they weren't holding up all that well.

Starfire too noticed the state of the boots and her face lit up.

"You need a new pair of shoes!" Starfire said "I believe there is the 'tactical store' just across the street! You should be able to buy a new pair of boots over there!"

Polybius nodded and the two made their way over there.

Once inside the store, Polybius saw a lot of things that interested him. From holsters to weapons to an assortment of goodies that the mute teen would have a field day with.

It didn't take long for the two teens to find the footwear section and began looking through them. What amazed Polybius was that they found his near exact boots, a few years newer model, available on a sale, half off! Polybius couldn't resist jumping on that deal.

"Ah, PSC boots." The cashier said as the two went to check them out after trying them on "Those are the best combat boots on the market. If what they say about this boot's life is true, then it should last you until your twenty-five. Not to mention that they offer better protection, sustainment, and comfortability than anything else on the market. Plus they don't take that long to break in either!"

Polybius knew all of this and was quick to trade out his old, worn boots for the new ones.

Starfire giggled as Polybius smiled. It had been so long since he last got new boots he forgot how good it felt putting them on for the first time.

"I take it you are happy?" Starfire asked, to which Polybius nodded with a smile on his face "That is glorious! Come, let us go back to the mall of shopping and get you some new jeans and a new jacket!"

Hours later back at the tower, Polybius looked at himself in the bathroom mirror in his new clothing. He essentially was wearing newer versions of his old clothing. A new, sleeker jacket, a fresh pair of unripped jeans, now black instead of dark blue, fresh socks, boots. Only his hat, tee-shirt, and gloves remained the same.

Of course, when they got back, Starfire was more than eager to show Polybius's new clothing off to the other Titans. And once it came out of the wash and was all clean, he was good to go!

Regardless, he still needed to bathe. Starfire had kept him out late, later than he wanted to be out, but that didn't matter. Polybius didn't have a 'daily routine' and rather lived his life in a state of chaos, deciding what he wanted and/or needed to do as the day went on. The way he saw it, daily routines just got wrecked by the natural chaos of life.

Once Polybius was clean and taking one last look to examine himself in his new clothing in the mirror, he headed towards his room. However, on his way, he passed by Beast Boy's room.

Deciding the pay the youngest Titan a surprise visit, Polybius knocked on the door. There was a small shout of surprise before a delayed pause and the door opened to reveal Beast Boy, who was slightly red in the face.

"Oh, it's you." Beast Boy said, "I thought you were Raven or Starfire."

Polybius then noticed that the teen wasn't wearing his belt. With a sly grin on his face, Polybius decided to play with the green teen a little bit.

Reaching down towards his own waistline, Polybius then tugged on one of the belt loops of his pants.

"Oh, that, um, I was just changing uniforms!" Beast Boy said, "Good thing you knocked because I was in the middle of changing and you would have seen me naked!"

Polybius nodded his head as he looked past the teen to see Beast Boy's laptop sitting on the bed, hastily hidden by the bedsheets.

The mute teen then pointed to the electronic device and Beast Boy looked back.

"Oh, I just put it here for, uh, safekeeping!" Beast Boy said.

Polybius nodded again and saw a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues on the floor. Again, Polybius pointed to those.

"Oh, those!" Beast Boy said, "Well, my skin has been getting dry on my elbows lately, and the tissues are for, uh, my, uh, sneezing!"

Polybius nodded again.

"Yo, Polybius!" He heard Cyborg call down the hall.

The two looked down the hall to see the largest Titan making his way towards him.

"Oh, uh, hey Cyborg!" Beast Boy said as Cyborg approached them "What are you up to?"

"I was looking for Polybius." Cyborg said.

Polybius then snapped his fingers, getting Cyborg's attention. Polybius then pointed to Beast Boy's missing belt, the bottle of lotion and box of tissues on the floor and the laptop in the bed.

"Polybius, did you seriously walk in on BB jackin off?" Cyborg put it bluntly.

"I- I wasn't!" Beast Boy quickly defended causing Cyborg to laugh out loud and Polybius to silently laugh.

"Uh-huh." Cyborg said, clearly not believing the youngest Titan.

Polybius then made a hand motion of jacking off. This caused Cyborg to laugh even harder and Beast Boy to get angry.

"Darn it, Polybius, what do you want!?" Beast Boy demanded, now totally red in the face.

Polybius then pulled out his notepad and wrote down that he was thankful for Beast Boy pawning Starfire off on him today as he was able to get some new clothing and toss out his old stuff.

"You're welcome." Beast Boy said as he gritted his teeth "Anything else!?"

"Yeah!" Cyborg said, "Have fun jacking off!"

Beast Boy let out a roar of rage before closing his door in the other Titans' faces, causing both of them to laugh.

"Oh…" Cyborg said after a solid minute of laughing "That was too funny."

Polybius nodded in agreement. They totally got him and while Polybius was happy he hit the mall with Starfire that night, getting Beast Boy back for that was totally worth it.

After the two calmed down, Polybius then looked up to the larger Titan.

"What did I come to get you for?" Cyborg thought for a moment "Ah! That's right! I wanted to see if you were down to hang out!"

Polybius nodded as he was always down to go hang out with the other Titans.

"Sweet!" Cyborg said, "Come on, I'll tell ya what we're doin on the way!"

And with that, the two set off towards the gym.

From what Polybius had gathered, Cyborg was very into working out before he became a cyborg. And while he can't push himself like he used to, he still enjoyed a good workout every day.

"So, I know that your back tentacles are strong, but I want to know how strong your arms and legs are!" Cyborg said, "Finally figure out if you're the stronger one!"

The two teens then set off to the workout mats on the ground.

"So, what weight do you want?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius pulled out his notebook and wrote something down before handing it off to Cyborg.

"Oh, so you prefer to use the weight of your body." Cyborg said "I can respect that. Star did say you were a heavier guy, even though you don't look like it. Heck, why don't you step on the scale so we can figure out how much you weigh, or if our girl needs to get her butt down here and join us!"

The two-headed over the scale. Polybius took off his new jacket and boots and hopped on. After waiting a moment for the numbers to register, Cyborg's jaw dropped when it loaded.

"Dude, you weigh more than me!" Cyborg said out loud in shock.

The scale flashed three hundred and thirty-three pounds. Cyborg weighed about two ninety if Polybius remembered correctly.

"How!?" Cyborg asked out loud "How could you possibly weigh more than me?"

Polybius then tapped his arm and followed it up with a pinch of his skin. Cyborg then looked at the teen's skin and then realized what the mute Titan meant.

"Dang." Cyborg said analyzing the skin with his cybernetic eye "I guess if I had skin like that, I wouldn't be a cyborg. That's why you are so malleable."

Polybius nodded. Out of all of the Titans, Polybius was the most malleable of them all and had proven it when in a fight with Johnny Rancid, Polybius took three shots from his weapon to the face. This attack didn't affect him in the slightest and it certainly scared Johnny, allowing Polybius to easily take him down as a result.

"But that doesn't fully explain why you are ahead on the villain takedown count." Cyborg said.

After their first serious encounter with a real supervillain, again their fight with Johnny, Cyborg and Beast Boy had a brilliant idea to keep track of who had the most takedowns. Supposedly there was going to be some reward for whoever took down the most criminals at the end of the month, and currently, Polybius had a strong lead of five takedowns ahead of Cyborg and Robin, who were tied for second. However, there was still a lot of month to go and with the crime alert going off at least once a day, things could change very rapidly.

"So how about we piece together the rest of the answer!" Cyborg declared.

The two largest Titans then set to work, pushing Polybius's body to the limit just to see how far he could go.

During one exercise, it would seem that Polybius had reached his absolute limit and Cyborg was about to call it off when suddenly, the mute Titan kicked into high gear and finished the set and then another one on top of it.

"How'd you do that!?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius then wrote down the appropriate response on his notepad and handed it off to Cyborg.

"So by biting your tongue, you can manually release adrenaline into your system at will!" Cyborg stated "And while this hurts you, it doesn't hurt you enough to make you not use it like your back tentacles! Sweet! I wish I could do that!"

That was true. Just by simply biting down on his tongue, not even hard, Polybius was able to release a ton of adrenaline into his system. And as expected, the harder and longer Polybius bit down, the more adrenaline was released into his system.

Pushing past that, by the end of the workout, Polybius's body was thoroughly exhausted. He, just as Cyborg requested, pushed himself to his limit. Now he found himself sitting next to Cyborg looking at the gym computer.

"Now let's see who's stronger." Cyborg said as he pulled up Robin's record.

Side by side, it was clear that Polybius was stronger than the masked leader. Not by a huge margin, and certainly not enough to declare super strength, but it was certainly a higher than the average amount for his body weight.

"I told Robin you were stronger!" Cyborg said with a smile on his face "Now he's gotta pay up!"

Polybius looked up at the half-metal teen with a questioning look on his face. Cyborg saw this his happy look vanished for a more nervous one.

"Uh…" Cyborg started "Robin and I had a bet going after our first practice. After watching you he was confident that he was stronger, and I said 'no way!' So we bet on who was stronger."

Polybius then motioned for the teen to go on.

"We, uh, bet fifty bucks on it." Cyborg stated.

Polybius nodded.

"You, uh, aren't mad, are you?" The teen asked the other.

Polybius shook his head.

"Oh thank goodness!" Cyborg said with relief.

Polybius then suddenly held up one finger, catching the teen's attention. The mute Titan then held up all four of his fingers on one hand, and one on the other hand. He then pointed to himself.

"You want 5?" Cyborg asked "Fine. That's fair."

Polybius smiled and shortly after that, the two went their separate ways.

The mute Titan decided to head to the main room and get a glass of water before he headed to sleep. However, when he entered he saw a pigsty of a room. It was a total mess and it looked like nobody had taken the time to clean it up.

If there was one thing Polybius didn't like, it was messes and general uncleanliness. While he wasn't a germaphobe by any means, he still preferred to live in a clean environment if it could be helped.

Pulling out the cleaning supplies from one of the kitchen drawers, Polybius set to work. He only intended to do the big stuff, however, as time wore on, the mute Titan found himself cleaning more and more until the room was spotless.

As Polybius finished up wiping off the counters, the last thing he needed to do, Robin walked in.

"What the?" Robin questioned looking around "Polybius? Did you clean this room?"

The mute teen nodded as he began to put away the cleaning supplies.

"Haven't you been out since our early morning mission?" Robin questioned.

Again, Polybius nodded.

"Well look at you being all nice and cleaning up everybody else's mess." Robin stated, "I was going to get everybody in here tomorrow and clean this, but you've gone ahead and done it."

The mute teen shrugged his shoulders.

"You didn't have to do that." Robin stated, but Polybius shook his head.

Pulling out his notebook, he wrote down an appropriate response and handed it off to Robin.

"So you don't like living in filth." Robin said "I don't blame you, but you didn't have to do this. At least alone. Next time get somebody to help you."

Polybius didn't respond to this as he pulled out his cup from his bag and filled it with water.

"Off to bed?" Robin questioned to which Polybius nodded "Well then have a good night. Be ready for combat practice tomorrow."

Polybius nodded and exited the room. He then headed back up to his room and sat on his bed. It had been a long day and he needed some good rest. That and his back pain medication was starting to wear off and he wanted to sleep before it completely wore off.

**And that is it for Chapter 4, I hope you enjoyed the escape I provided you and have a good rest of your day.**

**Also, big thanks to kripky, don't worry, I'm currently working on getting ahead right now for next month so there is plenty more story to come.**


	5. Chapter 5: An Aztec and a Bear

_Chapter 5_

_An Aztec and a Bear..._

Walking down the street with Robin, Polybius paid close attention to the leader as he spoke. It was a conversation the two needed to have away from the others.

Inside Titans Tower, it had become commonplace to find Polybius cleaning since that night Robin stumbled on him cleaning the main room a few weeks back. And the messes Polybius was cleaning up were rarely his own, rather that of the others, most commonly Beast Boy. Whether or not the green Titan was taking advantage of this was unclear. But what was clear is that Robin thought Polybius was doing too much, meanwhile the others, including himself, not enough.

Therefore, Robin wanted to create a chores list, so that way, every week, everybody has their assigned duties to do around the tower and Polybius wouldn't have to spend hours of his day cleaning.

At first, Polybius sort of shot down the idea, as he didn't really care all that much. He didn't mind cleaning up behind the others. It at least gave him something to do.

"Well Polybius, I suppose I can't really stop you from cleaning, but I don't want them to take advantage of you." Robin stated.

Polybius, who wasn't looking at Robin when he said that, whipped his head back around and looked at the leader. This took Robin off guard, but he quickly picked up on why Polybius had reacted that way.

"I guess you don't like being taken advantage of." Robin said more as a statement than a question.

Polybius nodded.

"Well then, I think you'll be on board with the new chores list?" Robin asked.

Again, Polybius nodded.

"Great!" Robin stated, "Now then, how about we-"

The leader was cut off by the crime alert.

"Trouble!" Robin said as the two took off for the jewelry department store.

Once there, the other four hadn't shown up yet. Regardless, the two pushed inside the store to confront whoever was inside.

"This gold that was stolen from my people shall once again be returned to us…" A big man said.

"That never belonged to you!" Robin barked back, gaining the criminal's attention.

What stood before Polybius and Robin was a man in clothing that looked a lot like what Starfire had tried to get him to wear a few weeks ago.

The man was big with dark skin. He didn't wear much clothing except for a turquoise groinal cloth, worn sandals, what looked like a quilt for a cape and a helmet with about a thousand feathers sticking out of it in a half-circle from ear to ear.

"And who are you to stop me?" The man asked, "You're heroes, after all, you should be supporting me taking back my people's stolen goods! Come now! Let us gather this gold and travel to my home together as allies!"

"Those goods never belonged to you!" Robin coldly returned "And the only place you're going to is jail."

"Arrogant fools!" The man barked back.

Without another word, the man reached behind him and picked up a long macuahuitl and held it with two hands. He held it in front of him and prepared for the engagement.

Robin was first to charge on the man. He pulled out his retractable metal staff and squared up with the bigger man who began to approach him as well.

Raising his macuahuitl over his head, the man brought it down on the leading Titan, who promptly blocked it with his staff. Robin then followed it up with a kick to the man's stomach. This sent the man back a few paces before he regained his composure.

Robin then tried a jump attack, but this fell short as the larger man gave the leader more ground. Once Robin landed, the man then tried to swing at the leader, who easily dogged the attack.

Robin once again tried to kick the larger man, but this time, the opponent saw it coming. He grabbed Robin's ankle and tossed him like a ragdoll across the room into a jewelry stand.

When Robin crashed into the stand, this caused the glass, jewels, and the cash register to go flying.

Polybius, who by this point had drawn out his stone club, watched this and took a more cautious approach than the leader had.

"Come on mute boy!" The man intimidated "Do you think you could possibly defeat me, Montezuma, the emperor of the New Aztecs!?"

Polybius remained silent as he squared up with Montezuma. He quickly decided in his head that his goal wasn't to beat the oversized man, but rather delay him until the others arrived. This way they could work as a team to bring him down.

"Come on coward! Strike!" The man tried but failed to intimidate the mute.

Polybius instead began side-stepping to his right, causing the man to move with him.

"What's the matter with you!?" The man demanded, now opening his arms to welcome any attack that Polybius may throw at him "Hit me!"

Polybius wished he had packed his flare gun today, but sadly it got damaged during a routine training exercise and now Polybius was waiting for a part to come in so he could fix it. If it wasn't damaged, it would have made quick work of this oversized, delusional emperor.

"You aren't going to do anything, are you?" The man asked "Just stand there and stare at me! Bah!"

The man foolishly turned his back on Polybius. Once he did, he waited a few seconds to see if Polybius was actually going to do anything. When the mute Titan didn't, he began to walk away.

Seizing the moment, Polybius launched himself through the air and hit the man hard in the back of the head.

The man stumbled forward several feet, but he didn't lose consciousness or his footing. But Polybius stayed on him and knocked him over by sweeping his legs out from under him.

Once on the ground, Polybius then tried to restrain the bigger man, however, the strength of his opponent was too great for the mute and he was able to throw the Titan off of him.

"You coward!" The man shouted as Polybius was thrown back into a pillar "Attacking me right when I let my guard down! Pathetic fool!"

Polybius slammed into the pillar hard. Hard enough for it to collapse on him and take part of the ceiling down with it too.

"Polybius, right?" The man questioned as Polybius laid under the pile of rubble "We'll be in touch."

Ten minutes later, Polybius was being unburied by Cyborg and Starfire, who had just arrived at the scene.

"Polybius!" Starfire shouted when she removed a large piece of rubble covering his face.

The mute Titan didn't respond when she said that.

"Nod if you can hear me!" Cyborg shouted.

Polybius nodded.

"Oh thank goodness!" Cyborg said with relief in his voice.

"Are you in need of any immediate medical assistance?" Starfire asked.

Polybius shook his head. He was dazed, but not seriously hurt. In fact, the only reason he hadn't gotten up from the crash was because his arms were pinned and his backpack was pressed up to hard against his back for him to utilize his back tentacles.

Once unburied, the three met up with Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven.

"You alright Polybius?" Robin asked.

Polybius nodded.

"Dude, what happened to you guys?" Beast Boy asked.

"Some big guy was after the gold. We tried to stop him, but he threw both of us around like ragdolls." Robin explained, "What did he call himself?"

Polybius pulled out his notepad and wrote down an answer.

"Montezuma, the emperor of the New Aztecs." Robin said out loud.

"Whoever this guy is, it doesn't sound like he's up to anything good." Cyborg stated.

"Yes, but there's one thing I don't understand." Raven stated "If this guy claims to be an Aztec, why is he attacking Jump City in California? Why not down in Mexico where the empire was historically?"

"He said something about the gold being stolen from his people." Robin said, "It may be a case that at one point in the gold's lifetime, it was an Aztec treasure stolen by the Spanish."

"How would he know that?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't know." Robin said, "But what I do know is that whoever this guy is, he's going down!"

After that, the team set out on a quick search of the city trying to locate the villain, but he was nowhere to be seen and left no detectable trail.

By the time sunset had rolled around, the team was back at the tower and Polybius was up in his room thinking about what had happened with the Aztec wannabe.

As the teen watched the sunset in his rocking chair. He was thinking about how the oversized man just tossed him like a ragdoll and easily overpowered the mute man.

A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. He got up and went to open it to see Starfire there.

"Greetings friend!" Starfire greeted "I ask, do you wish to join us for the dinner?"

Polybius looked back at the setting sun, which was just starting to touch the horizon. It seemed a bit early for the meal.

"I know it may seem a little bit early, but Cyborg picked up some of the Mcdonalds on the way back for all of us." Starfire explained, "So Robin decided for us to have an early dinner."

Polybius looked back at Starfire and shook his head.

"Why not?" Starfire asked "You never join us for meals. Even Raven joins us for meals, but you never do."

Polybius shook his head again. He walked over to his backpack at the foot of his bed and pulled out his notepad and wrote down a response. He then handed that response off to Starfire.

"If that is what you wish, I will bring you the nuggets of chicken." Starfire said "But do not be afraid Polybius. Whatever your personal reason is, we will not judge you for it."

With that, Starfire walked away and Polybius closed the door. He then walked back to his window but didn't sit down. Rather, he just stared out at the setting sun.

It wasn't that Polybius didn't want to join the others for meals. He really did. But the way he had to digest food like a seastar. It was a rather gross thing to watch, not to mention it was also painful for him. As was everything else for him.

Polybius then sunk into his chair and began pondering his life at the present moment. Thinking about all of the good and bad. His new friends, his pain, what he left behind. It all floated around in his mind.

It wasn't long however when Starfire was back with his chicken nuggets.

"Here you are, friend." Starfire said a bit gloomy.

Polybius smiled as he took the bag from her. He couldn't help but notice the small frown on her face.

The teen reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and he gave her a thumbs up while still holding the bag in his hand. This caused Starfire to smile.

"Thank you, friend." Starfire said.

Starfire then walked away and Polybius turned his attention to his food.

Closing the door, the mute Titan went over to his computer desk and pulled out a large Ziploc bag. Pouring all of the food inside of the bag, he then brought his stomach out of his body and ejected the digestive enzymes from his lone talon into the bag, turning it all into a green liquid. Polybius then used his stomach talon as a straw and sucked up every last drop.

Once Polybius was finished and his stomach back inside his body, he looked back out his window to see the sun was now halfway below the horizon. However, before he could get lost in his thoughts again, there was yet another knock on his door.

Answering it, Polybius found Beast Boy to be on the other side of the door.

"What's up, dude?" The green teen asked.

Polybius gave a small wave and a welcoming smile to the teen.

"Mind if I come in?" Beast Boy asked.

The mute Titan welcomed the green Titan into his domain. Beast Boy looked around as it was his first time in Polybius's room.

"Kinda spacious." Beast Boy said "And a little dry. Wouldn't kill you to hang some decorations on the walls."

Polybius shrugged his shoulders as he closed the door and Beast Boy looked at the window.

"But you do have a great view of the sunset." Beast Boy commented seeing the sun "Wish I had that."

Beast Boy then made his way over to Polybius's computer chair and took a seat. The mute Titan meanwhile took a seat in his rocking chair, turning it to face Beast Boy.

"So you're probably wondering why I'm here." Beast Boy stated, "Well, I was thinking, I've seen you hang out with the others, shopping with Starfire, working out with Cyborg and whatever you did with Robin, so I figured we should hang out and chill."

Polybius nodded as he hadn't yet had a chance to have any one on one time with Beast Boy. This would be a good opportunity, even if they were only chilling in his room.

"So…" Beast Boy said, "What do you want to talk about?"

Polybius gave Beast Boy a look that the green Titan immediately picked up on.

"Oh, yeah, right." Beast Boy said scratching the back of his head "Uh… So is there anything in here for us to do?"

Beast Boy began looking around his room and set his eyes on Polybius's laptop.

"Oh, I didn't know you had this." Beast Boy commented, "Let's see what you do in your spare time."

The mute Titan watched as the green Titan began exploring his laptop. Polybius had stayed logged in and laptop unlocked, as he was going to do a little research later about the Aztecs and their culture. Try to figure out more about this Montezuma guy.

"Let's check your browser history." Beast Boy said slyly with a grin on his face.

Opening it up, Beast Boy saw a very small list of websites Polybius had been too.

"Oh, so you cleared your browser history…" Beast Boy said before realizing that the oldest result was over two weeks old "Wait…"

Beast Boy looked at the dates again and realized that he wasn't getting whatever it was he was looking for.

"Why is there no…" Beast Boy questioned as he looked at the list of mostly Google searches.

Polybius wasn't quite sure what he was looking for. Something incriminating? The mute teen wasn't on his laptop all that much. Mostly just to look things up real quick, and that was it. He'd much rather be outside enjoying the fresh air. Not sitting around inside all day playing video games or mindlessly browsing the web like somebody else did.

Beast Boy then noticed that Polybius's stare was starting to grow more intense and he backed off the computer.

"Never mind." The green Titan said, "Let's try something else."

Beast Boy then got off his laptop and looked over at the bulletin board.

"Maybe you're hiding something over here!" Beast Boy said as he got up and walked over to the board.

Polybius's head moved on a swivel and his eyes followed the green Titan to the board. The green teen then began looking at the papers on the board, which by this point, was nearly full.

"Hm…" Beast Boy said as he began looking at the papers.

After a moment of searching, he noticed a picture of a bear and a reward.

"The Jump City Man-Eating Bear?" Beast Boy questioned, "Why do you have a picture of the bear that has killed and eaten three people on your wall?"

Beast Boy looked over at Polybius and after a moment of processing the item in his head, he suddenly made the connection.

"You plan on going after this bear, aren't you?" Beast Boy asked.

Polybius nodded.

"Dude!" Beast Boy said, "You're going to get hurt!"

Polybius shook his head.

"What do you mean no!?" Beast Boy demanded "Dude, that bear has killed and eaten three full-grown men! That thing is huge!"

Polybius shrugged his shoulders.

"So!?" Beast Boy shouted, "Dude, there is no way I'm going to let you go after this thing!"

Polybius shook his head, knowing full well the smallest Titan couldn't stop him.

"Come on dude!" Beast Boy pleaded "You can't go after this thing! It'll kill you!"

Polybius didn't respond as he looked out his window at the now night sky. The teen had been planning to go after that bear tomorrow as a matter of fact.

Beast Boy looked at the mute Titan and realized that he wasn't going to convince him otherwise. It seemed that Polybius was dead set on catching this bear.

"Come on man, at least writedown and tell me something!" Beast Boy pleaded.

Without turning his head, Polybius pointed to his backpack. Beast Boy picked it up and brought it over to him. He then watched as the mute teen pulled out his notebook and wrote something down.

"You plan on going after this thing tomorrow!?" Beast Boy shouted as he read the note "And I can't stop you! Come on!"

Beast Boy thought for a moment before declaring something that made Polybius go wide-eyed.

"I'm going with you!" Beast Boy declared.

Polybius snapped his head and looked at the green Titan.

"I won't let you hunt this bear alone." Beast Boy stated "If something happens to you, and you don't come back, Star will have a heart attack, and everybody will get mad. Mad at me since I now know about this!"

Again, Polybius shrugged his shoulders. While he wasn't a fan of the idea of Beast Boy tagging along, the mute supposed it couldn't hurt to have some backup.

And sure enough, by dawn the next day, Polybius was loading up his gear. He packed a couple of extra tools for the trip. However, his lack of ranged weapons did concern him as Polybius would much rather sit up in a tree and shoot the bear with his flare gun than have to get close to it with his modern ax or weak spear. But he did have one key tool on his side and that was his explosives. Polybius knew that if he could get one within three meters of the bear, he was definitely going to kill it. If it was inside fifteen meters, then the bear was going to at least get maimed by the coins inside the bottle of booze.

As Polybius finished packing his gear, he heard a knock on his door. When he answered it he wasn't surprised to see Beast Boy but was surprised to see the rest of the Titans standing there as well.

"You ready?" Beast Boy asked.

Polybius shot him a slightly confused look.

"Look, man, when BB told us you were going to go after that bear, we decided that we couldn't let you go alone." Cyborg said.

"Yeah." Robin agreed "We are a team, and we stick together. And this bear has been terrorizing Jump City for a couple of weeks now so it is, by extension, our duty to take care of it."

"And there is no way we are going to let you fight this man-eater alone." Raven added.

"Because what kind of friends would we be if we did such a thing!?" Starfire asked.

Polybius couldn't help but smile at his friend's commitment. At that moment, he felt truly blessed that he had such great friends.

"Alright, y'all! Let's go catch us a bear!" Cyborg declared.

And with that, Polybius grabbed his weak spear, which was nothing more than a sharpened stick and the team headed out to the forest outside of Jump City.

Starting at the bear's last spotted location, which was ironically the same place that Polybius had woken up an hour before he met the Titans.

"So what should we do Robin?" Starfire asked.

"I'm going to let Polybius drive the boat on this one." Robin stated, "It was his idea to go after the bear, so I'm going to let him go with it."

Polybius smiled at the leader's decision.

"Alright then Polybius, what do we do?" Starfire then asked.

Polybius pulled out his notebook and wrote down the instructions he wanted them to do. Which was to start tracking the bear.

"On it." Cyborg said pulling up a screen in his arm.

Using his sensors, Cyborg was able to detect where the bear was within twenty meters. This made tracking a lot simpler and the mission go a lot quicker.

"The bear's about three miles north." Cyborg stated.

Polybius nodded and the team began walking in that direction.

After the long three-mile walk, the team stumbled on the bear's den. This den was located at the base of a mountain and was only accessible by a medium-sized opening in the ground that was covered by branches.

"That bear is in there." Cyborg said, looking at the screen on his arm.

"Finally." Beast Boy said after the long walk.

Polybius looked at the entrance to the den. He could definitely climb in there if he had to, but he'd rather draw it out and fight it in the open.

Using his notebook, the mute Titan quickly formulated a plan as to how they were going to deal with this bear.

"So pretty much you are going to go in there, draw it out and we're going to start blasting." Robin said.

Polybius nodded.

"I don't like that plan." Starfire said, "What if something happens to you while you're in there."

"Don't worry about it Star." Cyborg said "Dude can shrug off your starbolts. I doubt a bear is going to do a lot of damage to him.

Polybius smiled as Cyborg was right. They both knew that the chances of the bear actually hurting him were slim.

"Oh, do be careful Polybius!" Starfire worried.

"Maybe I should go with you." Beast Boy offered.

Polybius shook his head.

"You sure?" Beast Boy asked, "What if something happens?"

"He does make a good point." Raven added, "You may want back up."

Polybius then pulled out one of his explosives and flashed it for everybody to see.

"So if things go bad and we hear that pop off, that's our cue to come and get you?" Robin asked.

The mute Titan nodded.

"Alright." Robin said, "Be careful."

Polybius smiled and turned to the den entrance. He pulled out his lighter and weak spear and began his crawl inside.

"I don't understand why you let him go alone." Beast Boy stated to Robin.

"This is his mission." Robin stated, "And while I'm not a fan of the idea of him going in there alone, I think we gotta build some trust with him."

"Trust?" Beast Boy questioned.

"One thing I have noticed about him is that he seems to have a hard time trusting people." Robin said.

"How so?" Beast Boy asked.

"During our fight with Montezuma yesterday, I noticed how he held back when I charged forward. It was almost as if he was expecting me to fail and deal with the problem on his own." Robin pointed out.

"And how is this going to help build that trust?" Beast Boy asked.

"Because if he fails, then we can swoop in and save him?" Raven asked.

"No." Robin said "It's going to be a process, but the first thing we need to show him is that we trust in his skill. We need to show him that we believe in him first."

"And then what?" Beast Boy asked.

"Once we've proven we trust him we-" Robin started before getting cut off by a loud roar from inside the den.

The team looked at the den with a shared look of horror on their faces as ten long and painful seconds went by accompanied by what sounded like painful roars. This was also accompanied by another sound they couldn't make out over the roars.

This was followed by another ten seconds of silence before Polybius poked his head out of the den. He then snapped his fingers and pointed at Starfire before then giving her the hand signal for her to come into the den.

Starfire wordlessly obeyed and a few seconds later, the two pulled out a massive, thought to be extinct, California Grizzly Bear.

The Titans were speechless as the bear was dragged out with a spear buried deep in its chest. Their jaws dropped to the ground as Polybius and Starfire finished dragging the body of the bear out.

"Holy crap!" Cyborg was the first to speak up "That's a California Grizzly! They've been extinct since the 1920s!"

"I guess Polybius just killed the last one." Beast Boy stated.

Polybius shook his head. He then moved for Starfire to go back into the cave again and when she did, she brought out four newborn bear cubs.

"HOLY CRAP!" Cyborg stated again.

"Dude!" Beast Boy said, "You just killed their Mom!"

Polybius then held up one finger and pointed to himself.

"She attacked you because you went inside her den, you idiot!" Beast Boy stated quite harshly.

"Hey, calm down!" Robin said, "The bear was still a threat."

"Well, what do we do with the cubs?" Beast Boy asked.

"We take them and put them in captivity." Raven said, "Hopefully with these cubs, we can restart the species and bring it back from the dead."

Beast Boy crossed his arms and looked away. It was clear to everybody that he wasn't happy with what Polybius had done. And in an attempt to defend himself, Polybius wrote down that he discovered the cubs after he killed the bear. And that there was no way he could have known that the bear was a mother.

"Still ain't right." Beast Boy stated.

Polybius looked down at the freshly killed bear before getting comforted by Cyborg.

"Ah don't worry about it." Cyborg said "He'll get over it soon. It's like you said, you couldn't have known that the bear was a mother, or that it was a long thought to be an extinct species."

"Plus, with these cubs in captivity, we can almost guarantee the species survival." Raven added.

Polybius smiled as he looked up at the two.

"Alright Titans, let's get this bear and the cubs back to the city." Robin said.

And with that, the team headed back to jump city. They turned the bear cubs over to Jump City's local zoo, who were thrilled about having four new bears as their old black bear had passed away very recently. The corpse of the Grizzly Bear was taken to the authorities, who then turned it over to the zoo for study.

Cyborg also took the time to stop by a local shop and had a mount of the bear's head made for Polybius, which the teen was very happy about. So happy about it, he mounted it on his wall right above his computer desk.

About a week after the mission, Polybius was admiring his mount on the wall when he got a knock at his door. Answering it, it revealed to be Beast Boy.

"Hey, Polybius." The green Titan said a bit gloomy.

This was the first time the youngest Titan had spoken to the oldest since the mission and Polybius was a little on edge by it.

"I just wanted to say sorry for acting so rude last week." Beast Boy said, "I guess seeing the bear's Mom die hit me a bit personally and I got angry."

Polybius smiled and waved his hand.

"So you're not mad?" Beast Boy asked.

Polybius shook his head.

"Oh thank goodness." Beast Boy stated.

There was a long moment of silence before he spoke up again.

"So you want to go into town with me and actually hang out for real?" Beast Boy questioned.

Polybius smiled, turned and grabbed his backpack and the two were off for a fun-filled day. Little did they know that the Aztec was hiding out in a gross, grimy, dirty basement.

"Titans." Montezuma muttered "A European, imperialist construct. Isn't that right my dear?"

The Aztec turned back to see a younger dark-skinned Latino woman who was tied up over a pool table. Her arms and legs were stretched out and her bare skin was exposed. Her heart was going a million miles an hour and was clearly visible in her chest.

"Oh don't worry hon." The man said, pulling out a large kitchen knife "You are going to appease the Sun God, Huītzilōpōchtli…"

**I've been really excited to upload this chapter and introduce Montezuma, and I hope you all are excited to meet him.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you have a good rest of your day!**


	6. Chapter 6: Booted

_Chapter 6_

_Booted..._

Polybius held on to the couch for dear life as Cyborg held it up over his head.

"I can't believe you lost the remote!" Cyborg shouted.

It had been three months since the tower was built, four months as a team. While things had been going smoothly most days, today just wasn't one of those days.

As Robin promised, a chores list was introduced and Polybius quickly learned to groan at Beast Boy's laziness. It was the green Titan's week to clean the main room, by far the largest task that any of the Titans had for the week. And in the mute Titan's opinion, it was something that really needed to be done daily, but as they were coming up on the end of the week, Beast Boy hadn't even touched it. It was a real shame since he took over that responsibility from Polybius, who always left it spotless by the end of his week.

Maybe that was why the remote was missing.

"What makes you think I lost it?" Beast Boy asked.

"Uh, 'cause you're you." Cyborg stated as he put the couch down.

The two then entered an argument as Polybius sat on the couch and placed bets in his head as to who would come out on top. It sure did get extra spicy when Raven got involved and that put the odds of Cyborg winning at a much lower than before.

"Woah! Hey Titans, combat practice is this afternoon." Robin said when he entered the room and the argument.

However, the argument was cut short when Starfire shot a starbolt at the blue stuff in the fridge. Polybius had assumed this was mold and was not appreciative of getting covered in it.

"Let's just go out for pizza." Robin proposed, who wasn't objected to by anybody.

While it wasn't characteristic of Polybius to tag along for eating out, he decided to go this time. Of course, he wasn't having any food, but it still made Starfire happy to see him come along.

And just as Polybius had heard about, an argument broke out over what to put on the pizza. Fortunately for the mute teen's ears, it would be cut short by a bus that was getting ready to plow over a baby carriage. Which was swiftly saved by the Titans, except it was odd that neither the bus nor carriage were occupied.

Taken by surprise, Polybius found himself getting blasted by some unforeseen laser projectile into a nearby building. The teen didn't hit the building all that hard and was quick to get up from the blast.

"Who are these guys?" Beast Boy asked as Polybius squared up.

"We're the HIVE." The little kid stated.

"And this is attack pattern Alpha." The female then followed up.

Polybius was thankful that she stated what she was about to do before she did it. He made sure to make a mental note in his head of what they were about to do.

The three attacked the six and the six couldn't find a winning move with any of them.

After Cyborg had a rocket put on his back and was sent flying in the sky, the big guy then turned his attention to Polybius, who by this point had drawn out his flare gun.

"What are you gonna do with that wimpy thing?" The big guy asked, "Shoot me?"

Polybius then fired a bounce fire flare at the large man. However, the little dude let off what looked like some sort of EMP pulse that shattered the flare mid-flight, letting it burn out on the ground, not even exploding.

"Looks like you need to work on your tech." The kid stated.

Polybius couldn't help but agree as he swapped his flare gun for his stone club.

"Oh, stone." The big guy said full of sarcasm "Now we're starting to get somewhere."

The big guy then launched himself through the air at Polybius. Naturally, Polybius gave a bit of ground to avoid the attack but was sent flying backwards by the shockwave the guy created from hitting the ground.

"Hey, no mute and deaf! I said upgrade, now downgrade, you snot pickin loser!" The little kid taunted as the mute started to pick himself back up.

The big guy then did another jump attack at the downed mute, and in response, the Titan rolled over to his right. As the big guy punched the ground, Polybius was barely out of the way and had his back to him.

Quickly rolling back over, Polybius tried to land a strike with his club on the male's head. However, as he rolled, the big guy just swatted his hand at him like he was a fly, sending the mute flying into another building.

Polybius hit the ground, but as he tried to pick himself up, he found himself getting launched again by a blast of one of the little guy's laser blasts.

Finding himself within arms reach of both Raven and Beast Boy, the three watched on in horror as Robin was quickly overtaken by the trio, who opened up the road and sent him into the sewers.

"Robin!" Beast Boy shouted as the three rushed to the edge of the crack.

Quickly acting, Polybius snapped his fingers at the two before pointing at them and then down into the sewers. The teen then slapped his own chest and pointed at them before charging off.

"Polybius!" Beast Boy shouted, "You can't take them by yourself!"

"He's not." Raven said, "He's giving us an opening to go look for him."

"But-" Beast Boy said before getting cut off by Raven.

"We can't waste this moment! Polybius can take beatings that the rest of us can't! Now go!" Raven said as she flew down into the sewers.

The green Titan took one last look at his mute friend, who was standing only ten meters away from the trio, before jumping in the sewer after their leader.

"Is that true?" The little kid asked, "I've heard you can take one heck of a beating."

"Let's just see how much you can take before we break you!" The big guy said confidently.

Polybius had zero intentions of trying to win the fight. Rather, he was going to try and lead them away from this location and delay them in an attempt to try and maximize the amount of time Raven and Beast Boy had to go search for Robin.

"Come on pretty boy." The female taunted "Let's see just how far your luck will run."

The kid then unleashed a barrage of lasers on the mute Titan, who did his best to dip, duck, dive, and dodge, but ended up taking a handful of the hits from the weapon. However, just as was the case with Johnny Rancid two months ago, Polybius was able to just shrug off the hits.

"Oh, so the pit sniffer is tougher than he looks." The kid commented, "I've never seen anybody take hits from my laser and act like nothing hit him."

"Let's just see if he's as tough as he is cute." Jinx said.

That particular way of talking angered Polybius, and it was visible on his face. It was no secret that while Polybius would joke around about sexual stuff, but when it came to actual flirting or serious sex topics, Polybius would only get angry. The other Titans never knew why he did, but he just did. And at that moment, he cursed his good looks.

"Looks like somebody didn't like that." The female said, "Shame I have to break your pretty face."

The female then unleashed a series of pink waves in his general direction. This missed him, but rather hit the street lights that lined the sides of the road instead, causing it to come crashing down. To avoid this, Polybius began backpedaling, each one crashing only a few meters in front of him.

"Enough of this!" The big guy stated "Let's give him something he can't doge.

Picking up a nearby semi, the gigantic man threw the massive thing at the mute man. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, the mute Titan was forced to take the hit.

The tires of the semi slammed into his upper body, the majority of the truck missing him. But this was enough to take him with the truck and cause the mute to get pinned to the ground under the weight of the vehicle. But he did have his arms free and was able to load a sticky explosive flare into his flare gun.

The Titan struggled to get free but would be freed by his opponents as the large man lifted the truck and tossed it aside.

"Guess you aren't as good as you think you are." The kid taunted.

Polybius smiled as he had one last trick up his sleeve. Quickly aiming the flare gun at the kid's chest, Polybius fired it and with the distance being so close, he had no time to react to it and the flare stuck to his chest.

"Hey!" The kid shouted as he stumbled back "Get it off me!"

Polybius rolled over onto his stomach as the flare went off, catching all three of them off guard. As they recovered from the blast of the flare, Polybius picked himself up and sprinted away from the three as fast as he could.

The teen made sure to take a long, convoluted route through the city as he headed back to the tower to make sure he wasn't closely followed. Once there, he met up with Raven and Beast Boy who had just walked in the door.

"That didn't just happen." Beast Boy said, "Tell me that didn't just happen."

"It did." Raven put bluntly "We cannot change the truth. No matter how much we dislike it."

That quote really spoke to Polybius.

The three were then joined by Cyborg and Starfire. Both of whom were extremely disappointed to learn that not only had the other four been beaten, but they were also down a Titan.

Things seemed too good to be true for a mere moment when a knock on the door was heard by the group. This, however, revealed to be a false hope as the HIVE kids were back.

"You got lucky last time, but you're in our house now!" Cyborg intimidated as the three walked in.

"Yeah, well take it!" The kid declared.

The five Titans quickly found themselves on the back foot again. Polybius and Beast Boy in the form of a Cheetah took off in the tower and found themselves being pursued by the female.

"Come here you two." The female taunted as the two took off down a hallway "I'd like to have fun with a kitty kitty and a cutie cutie."

"Whose she callin cutie?" Beast Boy asked as the two took a moment to catch their breaths.

Polybius pointed at himself.

"Makes sense." Beast Boy stated, "I was the cat after all."

The two didn't have long though until the female turned the corner. Beast Boy, being the closer of the two, took up a fighting stance and turned into a T-rex. He let out a thunderous roar, but this did not scare the female. Rather all she did was aim her pink waves at the ground, causing it to give way under him.

This left a marginal gap between her and Polybius, who was far enough back not to get caught up in the fall.

"If you surrender now, I'll make you my plaything." The female taunted.

Anger once again returned to Polybius's face as he picked up a piece of rubble and chucked it at her. She easily dogged this and then jumped the chasm. When she landed, Polybius tried to hit her with a right hook, but again, this was easily dogged.

"Shame." She said as Polybius tried to backhand her "It's a real shame that someone with a face as pretty as yours must be broken."

With one swift kick, Polybius found himself being sent backwards and falling down the hole she and Beast Boy had created.

And not long after that, the two Titans found themselves getting shot out of the tower and into the water along with Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire. This was followed up with a complimentary title wave that crashed into them. With this, for the first time in the Titan's history, they were truly defeated.

Now the what remained of the team found themselves washed up on shore, an argument broke out when Cyborg, who was rightfully pissed, snapped on Star. This evolved, but Polybius stayed out of it and looked out at the tower.

But what caught his attention is when the group started talking about if it was the end of the Teen Titans. Polybius refused to accept that level of defeat.

And he wasn't the only one because when the team needed him the most, Robin returned and laid out a plan for the recapture of the tower.

Meanwhile, inside Polybius's empty and vacant room, a particular girl was in there looking around, a big guy who was admiring the bear head on the wall, and the kid trying to hack his laptop.

"Wonder what this pit sniffer does on his laptop." The kid said as he opened it up.

"Don't call him that." The female defended "He's kinda cute."

"Ew!" The kid said.

"Oh come on." The female said picking up a picture of him off his desk "Mammoth, what do you think?"

The two turned to the giant man who was still admiring the bear head.

"Hm?" He questioned "Oh! Well, uh, no homo, but the dude is good looking."

"Looks like you gotta boyfriend!" The kid teased.

"Oh please." The female countered "He's not my type."

"So what does that mean?" The kid questioned.

"You'll find out when you get a little bit older." The female returned as she moved to his window.

"Yeah, I wish I had his looks." The big guy stated, "If I did, then I wouldn't have any problems finding a girlfriend as they'd all be drooling all over me!"

"A little more brain wouldn't hurt either." The female added.

The kid, by this point, was starting to hack the mute Titans laptop.

"Strange." The kid commented "I've never seen this brand. Probably some super expensive offshoot that nobody knows how to fix and it'll cost him a ton of money to get it fixed! I'm gonna wreck his whole system!"

The kid then extended a cord from his little, freshly repaired metal backpack and plugged it into the system. However, as soon as he began hacking, he was hit with a hard electric shock from the computer.

"AH!" The kid shouted as he felt the hard shock.

The computer then forced the plug out of itself and the kid fell off the chair.

"OW!" The kid said as he hit the floor.

"What happened?" The female asked.

"I don't know." The kid said breathing heavily.

"Maybe the computer is encrypted or somethin." The big guy stated.

"If that is protection, I've never seen anything like that." The kid commented.

Just as he said that his backpack began to spout electrical sparks.

"Hey!" The kid shouted, "It's crashing my system!"

The kid quickly dropped his pack and watched as the thing practically died on the ground seconds later.

"What kind of virus protection does that?" The female asked.

"I don't know." The kid commented, "I've never seen, or even heard of anything like it."

The kid then looked back up at the computer for a moment, which was on the home lock screen. It was displaying a beautiful forest.

"Whatever that snot eater's got on his computer, I ain't touchin it." The kid declared "And to think I just fixed this thing!"

The kid picked up this backpack and walked off, leaving the big guy and the female confused as they watched him walk out.

"Ha." The big guy stated, "It's always nice to see him get taken down a peg every once in a while."

"You said it." The female smiled "But he does bring up a good point. Whatever this cutie has got on his computer, if it can do that, then it might be worth taking."

"Yeah right." The big guy stated "So it can crash the kid's system. If he downloads too much on it, it does it anyway."

"But this is different." The female said "Not only did the system defend itself against him, but it also attacked his own. With that kind of protection in the HIVE Academy, then nobody would ever have to worry about getting hacked again!"

The female then moved to grab the laptop, but when she touched it, she too was given a hard shock that sent her stumbling back.

"Ugh!" She cried as she was shocked.

"Alright, that's it." The big guy said, "I'm smashing it."

The big man then raised a closed fist over the laptop. However, as he brought it down, his fist was suddenly stopped six inches away from the laptop and froze mid-air.

"What the?" The big teen asked before he too was given a strong electric shock from the machine.

"Ow!" The big teen cried as his fist was let go of by the machine and he drew it up to his chest and cradled it.

Both of the two intruders looked at the innocent-looking laptop, which was still showing a picture of the forest lock screen.

"Man screw that!" The big teen said, "Whatever is on there, isn't worth it!"

"Yeah." The female was quick to agree "Let's get out of here before something else happens."

Scooping up her picture of the mute Titan, the two-headed out leaving the computer sitting open with the picture of the lock screen being the only light to illuminate the room. However, a minute after they left, the screen that was displaying the forest turned to a black screen as the device shut off.

Even later in the night, the trio of invading intruders were lounging around the tower when they suddenly found themselves attacked and surrounded on the roof of the tower.

Polybius's part in the plan was to play the role of the 'handcuffs.' As soon as the Titans had dispatched the three intruders, Polybius, who agreed to do it, was to use his back tentacles to restrain them.

The fight went very well for the Titans. And it was very quick that the three intruders were dispatched and taken care of. Despite getting their butts handed to them, they still tried to put up a fight.

"Be careful." Beast Boy taunted.

"The cutie behind doesn't look all that happy." Cyborg followed up.

The group turned around to see the mute Titan standing there with no backpack on.

"Oh look! It's the stone age clutch head! What's he gonna do, throw rocks at us?" The kid taunted.

Polybius smiled as he willingly put himself in pain. Opening up his back, three black tentacles shot out.

"What the!?" The kid said as the jaws of the invaders dropped.

Moving fast, Polybius shot his tentacles at the three. The kid was taken immediately and drawn back to Polybius and held up.

The big man tried to grab hold of the tentacle and did so, however, despite putting all of his grip strength into his hand, the tentacle just slid right thought it and entangled him too. And even with his enhanced strength, he was helpless against the lone tentacle.

As for the female, she tried to somersault away, but Polybius's tentacle was too fast and caught her foot and quickly wrapped itself around her whole body, causing her to drop his picture in the process.

Holding the three up with his tentacles, Polybius was expending little effort in holding them all, even the big guy.

"Let us go you barf sniffing hairba-" The kid tried to insult the Titan, but Polybius's tentacle slapped the kid up the head.

After being dazed for a moment, the kid then said something that would change the course of the Titans forever.

"Ah screw this, we need to call Slade." The kid said.

Robin walked right up to the kid and Polybius put him at face to face level with the masked leader.

"Who is Slade?" The Titan asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know." The kid snickered.

Polybius then put the squeeze on him to get him to talk.

"AH!" The kid cried out in pain "Alright! He hired us! He said our mission was to destroy you! That's all I know! I swear!"

Looking over at Robin, the leader nodded and Polybius lightened up the pressure on the kid.

Once the invaders were handed over to the authorities, the team settled back in their tower.

"I can't believe this!" Cyborg said "The whole place gets cleaned and I still-"

He cut himself off when he saw Robin holding up the remote.

"Ha, ha!" The teen laughed in victory as he took the remote from Robin.

Polybius meanwhile, was inside his room inspecting it. Specifically, his laptop, which had recorded everything that had happened to the trio of invaders. Not only that, but his system hacked the kid's system, crashed it and stole a copy of everything he had downloaded on it. So now Polybius had access to all his blueprints, which he would be emailing over to Cyborg shortly.

The teen smiled as he watched the footage of the three get trashed by his computer. He began shaking his head as the footage ended. Never had he been so glad he got that laptop until now. And to think he got it for free too!

**And that is it for Chapter 6. I thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed. I hope you have a good rest of your day.**

**PS: Important information to come on Sunday with the next upload.**


	7. Chapter 7: Darkness

**DEPRESSION TRIGGER WARNING!**

_Chapter 7_

_Darkness..._

With two major villains floating around Jump City, Robin decided to split the work with Polybius. The mute Titan would focus his efforts on Montezuma, and the masked Titan would focus his efforts on Slade. By doing this, it gave Polybius a lot more room to more openly conduct his investigations.

However, he was not as nearly as committed as Robin was. Ever since the invasion of the tower a few weeks ago, Robin had consumed himself in an endless search for the mysterious figure. This lead the leader to be working rather ridiculous amounts of time searching for him. Polybius meanwhile set aside a set time during the day for investigating Montezuma. The way the mute saw it, despite all of the thinking he could do, he didn't believe that he couldn't think of anything new within two hours. Especially since they had seen no trace of the man since their first encounter.

Regardless, this had lead to a small argument between the two while Polybius was outside tending his plants.

"Come on Polybius!" Robin had said angrily coming home from investigating a lead "Why aren't you working on Montezuma?"

One thing the mute had learned about arguments is that it was very common among people to not leave time for the other to respond. This usually devolved into shouting matches and things getting nowhere.

This lead arguments between Polybius and the others to be more of them yelling at him and him just standing there and taking it as he never walked away.

"How can you just be sitting down here taking care of a bunch of plants while two madmen run loose in the city!?" Robin demanded "I've given you one job and that's to track down one criminal! But instead of doing that, you waste precious time by doing stupid things! Get ahold of yourself Polybius, or people will get hurt or freaking killed! And that blood will be on your hands as much as it is on theirs!"

Robin then stormed off, leaving Polybius standing amongst his plants.

While it was a small argument, this left the mute Titan thinking about what the leader had said. For a while, Polybius just stood there among his plants before he slowly hauled himself up to his room. Once there, he shut the door behind him, leaned his back up against it and sunk to the ground.

In the mute's mind, Robin was right. While Polybius went off and did rather stupid and mundane things, Montezuma was on the loose. What was even scarier is that from what Polybius had learned from his study of Aztec culture, human sacrifices were common. Very common.

In the Titan's mind at that moment, Montezuma was surely somewhere in Jump City right now! He had most likely already kidnapped pour souls and sacrificed them to whatever god he was trying to appease. And Robin was right when he said that the blood was on his hands too.

Polybius was hit with a wave of sadness as he sat on his floor. He brought his knees into his chest and buried his head. He was glad that no one was around to see him like this.

"He's right." A dark voice said.

Looking up, Polybius locked eyes with himself, sitting on his bed looking down on him. However, this version of himself had a dark aura around him. His voice sounded a lot like his had when he had it, but darker. His skin was entirely light grey and he wore a black business suit with a white shirt and black tie. He also wore no hat, letting his short black hair, which was identical to Polybius's, flow.

Once the two made eye contact, the darker Polybius began speaking again.

"Look at you." He spoke "While you sit here and mope, madmen run loose in the city. While you sit here and mope, people die by their hands. While you sit here and mope, they grow closer to their larger goal of causing the most pain they can possibly create."

Polybius looked away from the dark figure.

"Oh come on now." The dark figure said "Don't look away from me, that's quite rude. But then again, that's typical of you."

Polybius didn't move.

"Well, you know what, it's a good thing you sit here and mope. A very good thing as this little investigation you've been doing has gone nowhere. And why is that? It's because you're an idiot. You're too stupid to figure out basic things." The dark Polybius added on.

The mute Titan just sat there.

"And your friends know it too." The dark figure said "They know how incompetent you are. That's why they lie to you. They aren't your friends, they just pretend to be because you are their plaything."

Meanwhile, in the main room, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven were all watching the TV. Starfire had pulled up some documentary about hotdogs that the others were being forced to watch. However, they were soon joined by Robin.

"Hey, have any of you guys seen Polybius?" Robin asked as he approached his team.

"No, we've been here watching this for the past three hours." Cyborg groaned, "Why?"

"Well, I got a bad lead that led nowhere and took my anger out on Polybius." Robin said.

"Dude…" Beast Boy said "Not cool!"

"Yeah!" Cyborg said.

"Why him?" Raven asked, "You know he can't defend himself."

"Well, I saw him working on the plants in his little garden rather than working on the Montezuma case. And I guess after coming home with nothing and seeing him not working on it just pushed me over the edge." Robin stated, "I want to go apologies to him."

"I think he's in his room." Raven stated, "I saw him walking down the hall when I went to the restroom."

"Thanks." Robin said.

"You owe him!" Starfire declared.

"I know I do." Robin replied.

"And next time, please snap on one of us." Cyborg asked "You were there when the five of us agreed not to snap on Polybius. And you also know that Polybius grows those plants! To help with his back pain!"

About a month back, Beast Boy was having a bad day and Polybius was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The green teen snapped on the mute, who just stood there and took it. The others were there to watch it and broke it up. However, this did cause the mute Titan to leave with his head hung low.

Starfire, upset by seeing her friend so sad, declared that since Polybius couldn't talk, and by extension, could not verbally defend himself, that the Titans were not to be mean to him. Naturally, the others backed this up as being mean to Polybius was like punching a beached shark. It may be deadly, but on a beach and out of its element, it couldn't defend itself.

"I know, I know." Robin assured the team again "I'll make it up to him, I promise."

"You had better!" Starfire finished.

Robin then left the main room and headed for Polybius's room where the mute Titan was still getting hammered by the dark version of himself.

"And you left!" The dark Polybius went on.

There was a knock at the door, causing the dark Polybius to stop.

"Polybius?" Robin asked, "You in there."

"Don't answer it." The dark Polybius said, "You are a burden to him and he doesn't need to be dragged down by you!"

It was clear to the mute Titan that only he could hear the dark version of himself as Robin made no comment about what he had said.

"Look, Polybius, I'm sorry about earlier." Robin started.

"No, he isn't." The dark Polybius said.

"I shouldn't have snapped on you like that." Robin went on.

"It's okay, you deserved it." The dark Polybius added on.

"Look, what happened is I got a dead-end lead on Slade. A lead that seemed really good, but was a bust." Robin continued "And when it came up as a dead-end, I got really mad at the lead and when I saw you not working on the Montezuma case… I- I just lost it and went off on you and that isn't right. I can't expect you to pour in all of your time into a case that literally has shown no lead."

"Uh, yeah he can." The dark Polybius added "You're just too stupid to find one! That and you're too darn lazy!"

"So I want to say that I'm sorry. Very sorry." Robin went on "But I'll make it up to you later! Just, why don't you come out and join us."

Polybius looked up at the button on his door.

"Don't!" The dark Polybius warned.

Ignoring the dark Polybius, the teen stood up and opened the door to come face to face with Robin.

The leader was a little surprised to see the door open but was glad it did.

"Look, Polybius, I'm super sorry." Robin went on "It's not right of me to go off on you like that. Especially since you can't talk. But, why don't you come and join the rest of us up in the main room?"

Polybius smiled and nodded.

"Great!" Robin said, "Hopefully that documentary about hotdogs Star has been making the others watch is over and we can find something more pleasant."

The mute Titan began to follow the lead Titan. However, only just taking a step outside his room, he looked back at his bed where the darker version of himself was once sitting.

Upon looking back, Polybius saw that the figure was gone as if he were never there.

Joining the others in the main room, the two took a seat on the couch with the others.

"Are you alright friend Polybius?" Starfire was the first to question.

Polybius smiled and nodded his head.

"No hard feelings, right?" Robin followed up.

Again, Polybius nodded.

"Good." Robin said.

"Yo, Rae." Cyborg said "Is Polybius lying when he nodded? We want to be sure."

"I don't know." Raven said.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Cyborg asked for the group.

"Well…" Raven started "I can't sense him."

"What?" The Cyborg asked.

"But you can sense the rest of us." Starfire said.

"So why can't you sense Polybius?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't know." Raven said "But ever since we met him, I can't sense him at all. I don't know what he's feeling or where he is. He's like a ghost to me."

"That's weird." Cyborg said, "Because I can't pick him up on any of my sensors either."

"Well at least I know I'm not alone anymore." Beast Boy added, "Because when I'm a dog, I can't pick up his scent either."

Everybody traded looks with each other except Polybius who kept his head low. There was a long moment of silence before Robin spoke up.

"So what we're saying is that Polybius can't be tracked?" He asked.

"Not by any means available to us." Cyborg said.

"That could be quite useful in the future." Robin stated.

"Anyway!" Starfire said, gaining the group's attention "Robin, you and Polybius must see this documentary about hotdogs! It is so entertaining!"

At this point, there was no escaping the inevitable. The entire team found themselves sitting and watching a four hour documentary about hot dogs.

By the end of it, nobody wanted to ever even think of a hot dog again.

However, tragedy would strike the team the following day when Cinderblock broke into prison, and a subsequent major mess up by Cyborg and Robin, caused Cyborg to temporarily leave the team. And while this hit Polybius hard, this development didn't last long as later that week, Cyborg reunited with the team.

The following week, the team got the brilliant idea to head out to the carnival that had come to town to celebrate Cyborg's return. The mute Titan tagged along and found himself sitting on the dock alone again.

Despite the others' attempts to cheer him up, Polybius was still sad. The voice of the dark Polybius had said so many things to him that were true. Polybius now saw himself as more foolish than ever before.

And at that particular moment in time, he was so thankful that he was mute. It was super easy to lie when he didn't have to put any words behind it. And with Raven unable to detect his lies, all he had to do was put a convincing smile on his face, look happy and nobody batted an eye.

The mute Titan looked out at the horizon. The constant booms of fireworks echoed in his ears as he watched the stars dance on the water. It was beautiful.

"Yo, Polybius!" He heard Cyborg call out "Yo, dude! Come on, we're gonna go play some games! Come and tag along with us!"

Polybius looked back at his friend, who was standing by Beast Boy and Raven. He couldn't help but smile as he picked himself up and went off to join them.

The trio headed to a ring toss game where the three boys agreed to try and win the giant chicken for Raven as a joke. All three of them knew she was allergic to their feathers, and it would be the perfect thing to annoy her with.

And when they won it, her reaction said it all.

"A giant chicken. I must be the luckiest girl in the world." She said with total sarcasm.

However, the four were called into action when some pink, robotic space squid attacked Starfire. It led the five on a chase and rather easily bringing the thing down.

"What was that?" Robin asked the alien girl, who had no clue what it was "Then maybe it's best we head to the tower." Cyborg proposed

The team agreed and headed back to the tower. Once there, however, they were greeted by a surprise guest.

"Sister!" Starfire greeted.

The two had a short exchange before the two began walking down the line and introducing her sister Blackfire to each of the members.

"Polybius…" Blackfire said, to get a nod from the mute Titan "Starfire wasn't kidding when she said you were good looking. My gosh, you could get any girl you wanted with looks like that."

Polybius's eyes drifted over to Starfire as a mixed look of anger and disappointment arose on his face.

Starfire let out a nervous giggle as the mute Titan's eyes drifted back to Blackfire.

"But she said you never liked to be complimented on your looks." Blackfire said "But I do hear you are an excellent hunter. I've taken on some real monsters in my time. Might have to chat about them sometime."

Polybius let a small smile slip as Blackfire continued down the line.

The following day, after Polybius, found himself outside in his garden again tending his plants. He knew that regardless of what Robin or the dark figure had said, he needed to take care of these plants. Otherwise, he was quite useless.

However, it seemed that this was everybody's favorite time to approach him, and today it was Blackfire.

"Hi there Polybius." Blackfire greeted the mute teen.

The teen was harvesting some Aloe Vera plants when she greeted him. He looked up at her and gave a warm, welcoming smile.

"These plants." Blackfire commented, "I must say those Marigolds are quite beautiful."

Polybius nodded in agreement as he went back to harvesting his plants.

"I have a question for you." Blackfire stated.

Polybius stopped what he was doing and looked up at the alien.

"Why oh why aren't you using any Zorkaberries?" Blackfire asked.

The teen was confused as he had never heard of that flora before.

"Oh, they were one of Starfire's favorites." Blackfire said "She used to eat them up left and right whenever she got hurt. The reason being is that Zorkaberries can increase the rate of recovery from injuries. And Starfire has mentioned your pain at least once or twice. So I am baffled as to why she hasn't given any to you to use in your mixes."

As if on some sort of cue, Starfire came walking into view and headed straight towards the two.

"Hello, sister and friend Polybius." Starfire greeted.

"Hey, Starfire?" Blackfire asked "Why haven't you given him any Zorkaberries for his medication!? You used to eat them up all the time when you got hurt."

"I never thought of doing that." Starfire stated "But I do not think they would help his pain. Zorkaberries are used for healing things like cuts and scrapes, not as a painkiller, which is what my friend makes."

Polybius couldn't help but notice the slight extra emphasis the girl put on the 'my' before in that statement.

"Makes sense." Blackfire said "But a painkiller would be quite useful. Maybe you can show me how to make it later."

Polybius shrugged his shoulders as he went back to harvesting his plant.

However, this would never come to pass as Blackfire heard about a party downtown that she invited the Titans too. While Polybius didn't want to go and knowing Raven wouldn't either, would have rather stayed at the tower. However, when the location was put out, it grabbed her attention.

Once there, Polybius quickly lost track of the others and found himself alone and isolated from the others.

Moving out to the edge, the teen took a seat somewhat away from the main party, but close enough to where he could monitor it. However, he was soon approached by a very familiar face.

"Hey, Dusche!" The teen said as he approached him.

Polybius saw that it was the same teen who had attacked him a few months ago. He looked like he had just gotten out of his cast as he was wearing a brace on his arm. He also had his presumed girlfriend around that same arm.

The mute teen rolled his eyes as he watched the overly pumped teen walk up to him.

"What are you doing here?" He barked.

Polybius shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, you know what, you got lucky last time." The teen said, "Get your butt outside so we can settle this."

Polybius let out a silent chuckle. He was more than happy to break this kid's arm again. But he really wasn't in the mood to.

"Come on, wimp!" The dumb teen tried to intimidate "Come outside and fight me."

"Come on babe." His girl said "He totally whooped your butt last time. Just let it go."

"No way!" The teen said "He broke my arm and took my last girl from me! There is no way I'm letting him get away with that!"

"He didn't even press charges." Girlfriend number two stated.

"So?!" The teen said "Still doesn't excuse the fact that he broke my arm! Now get up and fight!"

Polybius shook his head. He had zero intention of wasting his time with this loser.

"Fine, you want to get your butt whooped in front of everybody." The teen said "Your humiliation, lame Robin!"

The teen then took his arm off his girl and swung at Polybius using the same arm the brace was in. And just as last time, Polybius caught it and broke the teen's arm again.

"Ow!" The teen shouted as he recoiled in the pain from the quick arm snap Polybius inflicted on him "Oh, you son of a-"

"Oh, shut up." Girlfriend number two barked at him "You deserved it! Attacking this hottie!"

Polybius silently groaned as the teenaged female walked over to him.

"Now why don't you and I ditch this lame party and go back to my place for some fun." The female said getting close to him.

Polybius put an arm on the girl's face and pushed her away before getting up and leaving.

Fortunately for Polybius, duty would call his name again as three more of the squids from earlier attacked Starfire again. This would later culminate into learning that Blackfire was a fugitive on the run and was trying to frame Starfire for her crimes. However, Blackfire would not get away with it as the alien police apprehended her and took her away.

The mute Titan couldn't help but think good riddance as he did not like Blackfire.

**And there you have it. The introduction of a darker Polybius. Anyway, the important information is that I am headed to a place where uploading is going to be difficult. I have already prepped chapters for the time I'm in that area, so I'm looking at an upload seclude of Sunday and Thursday, possibly Tuesday as well.**

**And finally, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and have a good rest of your day.**

**Also I don't own Teen Titans. Didn't put that disclaimer in earlier so I'll put it in here so I don't get sued or something stupid like that.**


	8. Chapter 8: Reset

_Chapter 8_

_Reset..._

"So what you're saying is that you think that old guy was Slade, right?" Beast Boy asked the leader "And with the help of Thunder and Lighting, he summoned that big fire monster?"

"That's exactly what I am saying." Robin stated.

"And what about this Montezuma?" Starfire brought up.

Polybius shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Nothing?" Cyborg said, "How does a dude like that just fall off the face of the Earth?"

"Earth has a face?" Starfire asked.

"It's a figure of speech." Raven explained.

"Oh." Starfire said a little embarrassed.

"Well if that's the case, then I suppose we can call this meeting to a close." Robin said.

With that, the Titans disbanded from the main room and Polybius made his way to the rooftop.

Standing on the edge of the roof, the teen looked out at the city. The storm that had defeated the monster was nothing more than a minor sprinkle now.

However, the teen's mind was troubled. He began thinking about everything that had happened since he joined the Titans. Particularly that dark Polybius. But also his first encounter with the teen whose arm had been broken by Polybius twice, and his goal afterward. For the public to see him as his own person, and not just a less awesome Robin. He also thought about his lone experience of hearing the voice.

For the first time since his arrival in Jump City, Polybius was truly scared. Not of anyone else, but what was happening to him. He had no clue as to what was going on inside his head. Or outside?

The way Polybius saw it, he didn't know anymore.

What he did know is that he hadn't seen the dark version of himself since the day prior to Blackfire's arrival. And he hadn't heard the voice since that video game, which none of the others heard. Only he did.

It was terrifying that he was the only person who could see or hear these things. The idea of Robin standing on the other side of the door, unable to hear the darker version of himself talk to the mute Titan.

And he was certainly not one to get scared easily.

Taking a seat and letting his feet dangle over the edge, the teen tried to make sense of what was going on. Why was everything that was happening to him, happening?

"Polybius?" He heard Starfire call his name.

Polybius didn't move as the alien girl made her way up to the roof.

"There you are!" Starfire said, walking up next to him "How is it going, friend?"

Polybius didn't look at her as he gave her a thumbs up.

"That is good to hear!" Starfire said happily.

Polybius couldn't help but smile as the aura of positivity from the alien girl gave. It was so powerful that rubbed off on him, making himself feel better.

"Uh, about the other day with Blackfire." Starfire started, with a sense of nervousness in her voice.

Polybius cut her off by holding up his hand and shaking his head. As much as he hated it, he knew he was very good looking.

"Oh…" Starfire said as Polybius put his hand down "Well, I was wondering, would you like to hang out with me? I have assembled a box of arts and crafts that we could make the silly little things."

A smile appeared on Polybius's face and he let out a silent chuckle. There was no way he was going to turn this down.

The mute Titan nodded and Starfire's face lit up with joy.

"Oh, wonderful!" Starfire cheered "Come, friend! Let us not waste any time!"

As the two-headed back inside, far away from the tower on the outskirts of the city limit, inside a gross looking house was Montezuma. He was sitting on a disgusting looking couch and dressed to look like a normal person. He was watching TV, specifically the news.

"And once again, the Titans save the day from a fire monster that threatened to destroy the city. As always, the city owes yet another debt of gratitude to these young heroes." The news reporter said.

The small TV screen then showed a picture of the Titans standing triumphantly in the wake of the monster's path.

"Imperialist constructs." The man said as he picked up his remote and turned off his TV.

Montezuma had watched the whole thing from his living room window. He watched as the Titans bravely fought off the monster and how they let it very close to his house. Should the monster had come to his house, he would have been in a lot of trouble.

Standing up, the big man walked over to the kitchen and got out some Fruit Loops cereal. Once finished, he took a seat at his cheap kitchen table and began eating.

"Montezuma!" A mysterious voice suddenly called out his name.

"Who's there!?" The big man threatened.

"It's me, your Sun God." The voice bellowed.

The New Aztec was quick to show proper signs of respect for his holy figure, who could not be seen, but only heard.

"What do you desire from your humble servant?" The quickly humbled man asked.

"I have a few requests for you." The voice bellowed "Firstly, I need more sacrifices!"

"But sun god, I cannot, Huītzilōpōchtli. " Montezuma complained.

"Okay, firstly just call me Sun God, as that is a lot easier to say. And why not!?" The voice demanded "I cannot continue to rise and fall on sacrifices every other week! I don't care who you sacrifice, even if you have to steal them from the freaking orphanage down the street, I demand at least weekly tribute, or the sun will never rise again!"

"Of course." Montezuma quickly replied.

"Secondly, I want you to antagonize the Titans." The voice bellowed.

"All of them?" The man asked.

"Yes, all of them!" The voice said, "You must make an appearance again to renew the Titan's interest in you!"

"And where shall I strike?" The man asked.

"The museum!" The voice bellowed "In there, there is a sacrificial dagger that you shall begin using to sacrifice people to me rather than that dirty and pathetic kitchen knife you've been using."

"Of course." Montezuma said, "And when shall I strike?"

"In three sunsets from now." The voice bellowed "And by the rise of the next sun, you will have the dagger in your possession and will have sacrificed a soul to me. Also, don't let the dagger be the only thing you steal. It'll make the sacrifice connection far too obvious and put you at the top of their list. We don't want that yet and we still want their main focus to be Slade, for now."

"Understood." Montezuma replied.

"And my final request, for now, is that you clean this place up." The voice said, "I mean, gosh darn dude, this place is a pigsty and when you sacrifice people over that disgusting freaking pool table and their souls come to me, my gosh I don't want to touch them with a ten-foot pole."

"It will be done." The man grumbled.

"Good!" The voice bellowed "I shall speak with you again soon."

"I will wait for it." Montezuma said.

And with that, the voice vanished. Montezuma couldn't help but get excited by the visitation of the Sun God. This was the first time it had happened and he felt revitalized. It was time to carry out the wishes of the god.

Two days later, after Cyborg had a near-total robotization experience, and made a new ally, Fixit, the Titans headed back to the park to enjoy a little bit of downtime. Raven floated and meditated under a tree. Beast Boy, Robin, Polybius, and Cyborg were throwing around a football, and Starfire was amusing herself by watching some of the birds fly around.

And as the day winded down, the Titans headed home and Polybius laid on his bed looking up at his ceiling, thinking about how awesome that day had been, despite Cyborg's incident. He couldn't help but think about how lucky he was to have friends like the Titans.

And for a brief moment, he was able to forget about all of his troubles and just enjoy himself.

However, good things could not last as the following day, right at sunset, Polybius was making his way back home from a stroll around town. He was passing by the museum when his crime alert went off. This was accompanied by alarms in the museum as well.

Without even hesitating, Polybius quickly rushed inside the building, making his way through the crowd of fleeing civilians. Once inside, he quickly headed his way to the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca section of displays.

Once there, Polybius ran into the massive man who had tossed him like a ragdoll a while back. Montezuma.

The thing that Polybius found very troubling thought, is that he had the stolen items in his arms already. And it looked like he was just standing there, waiting for somebody to come and try and challenge him.

And he was going to get what he wanted.

"Ah, there you are!" Montezuma said, seeing the mute Titan enter the exhibit "Now I can finally put my macuahuitl to good use."

Stashing his stolen goods in his groinal cloth, he held his massive weapon with two hands and squared up with the Titan.

The mute couldn't help but smile as this time, he had his flare gun, set and ready to go with a bounce fire flare. Something that would hopefully catch the feathers of his helmet on fire.

Polybius fired off the flare, but the big man then used his macuahuitl like a baseball bat and knocked the flare away. However, this wasn't without causing the weapon he was using to catch on fire. The wood it was made out of quickly caught on fire, rendering the weapon useless.

"Gosh darn it!" The big man said as he threw his burning weapon on the ground "You want to play like that huh, fine."

Again digging into his groinal cloth, the big man drew out his stolen sacrificial dagger. He held it in his hand as Polybius took aim with a sticky fire flare.

Montezuma charged Polybius who fired at the big man, but the Aztec was able to doge the flare easily and slammed into Polybius, causing the mute Titan to be sent flying through a wall and out to the main lobby.

Polybius quickly picked himself up and faced Montezuma. The big man put the dagger away for some unknown reason and picked up large pieces of debris and chucked it at Polybius. This was easily dogged by the Titan, who then drew out his stone club and charged the large man.

"Come at me fool!" The Aztec shouted "Now you face me like a man! No, a warrior! Let's see how tough you really are."

Polybius swung low with the club, and the man took a step back to dodge the attack, but Polybius kept his forward momentum going and slammed into the big man.

"Oof!" The Aztec said as he stumbled back "Good one."

Polybius stood facing the big warrior with his club in hand.

"Sadly though, it is time for me to go." Montezuma said "I'll see you again Polybius. Hope to have a good fight with you next time!"

The big man then dashed out of Polybius's line of sight, back into the section he had just blasted Polybius through. Naturally, the teen followed him, but when he got there, the big man had vanished.

The teen looked around confused. The emergency exit door was closed and there were no major holes in the walls or ceiling except for the one that had been created by Montezuma's attack.

Polybius couldn't help but wonder where the hell the big man went.

"Polybius!" he heard Robin shout.

The mute Titan turned back to see his team just now arriving at the scene. They quickly rushed over to him and stood by his side.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

Polybius put away his club and took out his notebook. He wrote down a brief description of the events that had just happened with Montezuma.

"Montezuma." Robin said "Stealing Aztec artifacts. Predictable."

"But what I don't get is how he vanished." Cyborg said, "If what you two have been saying about this guy's size is true, and he's half a foot taller than me, how did he vanish like that?"

"Super speed?" Beast Boy proposed.

"Teleportation?" Raven offered.

"It doesn't matter." Robin said, "Spread out and search the city."

The Titans did this only to have nothing turn up. Just like before, there were no signs of the big Aztec anywhere. And when they reconvened at the tower, it did exactly what the Sun God wanted it to and gave a renewed interest in Montezuma, but left Slade the primary focus of the team.

But the god was not happy.

"What were you thinking!?" The voice bellowed at the servant named Montezuma.

"I don't understand." Montezuma said.

During the fight with Polybius, the Sun God intervened briefly to save Polybius's life. Montezuma had intended to use the dagger to kill the mute Titan. However, the god had other plans, and the death of Polybius would have thrown all of that out the window.

"Killing Polybius is going to get us nowhere!" The voice shouted with a rage-filled voice "Especially Polybius! The Titans get really defensive of him because he cannot speak! Therefore, by killing him, you will enrage the Titans where they will hunt you down!"

"Please forgive me." The man pleaded.

"No!" The voice bellowed "I gave you this! No, I gave you everything! And now you are going to witness me take it all back and then some!"

"Please…" Was the last thing Montezuma said before vanishing into thin air.

Seconds later, a person who was dressed exactly the same as Montezuma had just seconds prior appeared in the place of the old one. The only difference is that this one was the same height as Polybius. In fact, the man had a very uncanny resemblance to Polybius. If nobody knew any better, then they would have assumed it was Polybius. Except this person didn't have a massive hole in his back and didn't live in constant pain. Plus this person had all of their fingers.

"Now then." The god spoke, "You, Montezuma, shall carry on with the sacrifices and keep your head low."

"Of course." Montezuma stated, "Your wish is my command."

About a month after the fight with the Aztec wannabe, Polybius found himself yet again, sitting in his room with zero leads as to who or where this guy was. All he had were a list of the stolen artifacts, and they all seemed to have no connection to one another, aside from their origin.

As Polybius pondered, he reached over for his cup of water to find that he had already drunk all of its contents.

The mute Titan shook his head as he held the cup in his hand. Having spent so long in his room trying to figure out something about Montezuma had really left him too centered on the topic. And despite what Robin said a month and a half ago, Polybius admitted he needed a break.

However, as Polybius walked back, he had to pass by Raven's room. And as he came upon it, he heard a scream that sounded like it came from Cyborg, inside her room!

Quickly rushing into action, Polybius quickly rushed over to the door and tactfully poked his head around the corner.

All the teen saw was a knocked down door and a mirror laying on the floor as well as several miscellaneous objects in the dark.

Having no idea what happened, and thought that maybe he was hearing things, Polybius blinked a few times before walking off to find Raven. He still had to tell her that her door was knocked down.

Deciding to start his search in the main room, Polybius found only Robin and Starfire there.

"Hello, friend!" Starfire greeted warmly, as she always did.

Polybius waved as he approached the two, who were finishing up a meal. He then pulled out his notebook and explained that Raven's door had been knocked down.

"That's odd." Robin said, "Raven doesn't allow anybody in her room."

"We need to go find and tell her!" Starfire declared.

And with that, after Polybius filled up his cup with water, they set off to find the girl in question. After a fifteen-minute search of the tower, they found her up on the roof of the building.

"Hey, Raven." Robin said as the three approached her "Polybius says he passed by your room and the door has been knocked down."

It was then at this moment that one of the most terrifying things that had ever happened during his time with the Titans happened.

Raven laughed. Not a little giggle as she did from time to time, but full-on laugh.

Polybius, Starfire, and Robin quickly put a little distance between themselves and her. They also put their hands up in case they needed to react to anything. All three of them could feel their hearts going a million miles an hour in their chests.

Fortunately for the trio, Raven was quick to react and covered her mouth. She then put up the hood of her cloak and quickly stormed off.

"Many of your Earthly ways are strange." Starfire started "But that was just plain freaky, yes?"

The mute Titan could only nod as they let their hearts settle down.

For the rest of the day, Polybius isolated himself inside his room, always on edge as to what Raven may do next.

**And there you have it. Something has happened to Montezuma and things are picking up. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and have a good rest of your day.**


	9. Chapter 9: Events in Motion

_Chapter 9_

_Events in motion..._

"So this T-sub, ship thing?" Beast Boy questioned, "What is it supposed to do?"

"It'll allow us to operate as a team underwater." Cyborg answered, "I have been working hours on end to get it ready."

"Friends!" Starfire called as she entered the main room where the two were "Have either of you seen our friends Polybius or Robin?"

"Robin is in the same place he always is." Beast Boy stated, "As for Polybius…"

"He's in his room." Cyborg said.

"Oh, I was afraid you would say the latter!" Starfire commented.

"Why?" Beast Boy asked.

"Because ever since Robin hollered at him, and Montezuma whooped him again, he seems to be turning more into a hermit." Raven said as she entered the room.

"Oh, I fear that our friend has lied to us about him not being hurt by Robin's meanness!" Starfire cried.

"Polybius is fine." Beast Boy said "Dude never takes things to heart."

"That's not the point." Raven sharply stated, "The point is, we should be worried about him."

"He's fine." Cyborg assured them "BB's right. The guy is just probably a little upset that he has been getting his butt kicked so much lately. Why with the puppet king and Montezuma really giving him a hard time, he's probably trying to figure out ways to improve himself."

"How can our friend do that by hiding away in his room all day?" Starfire asked.

"Raven does it." Beast Boy stated, getting a harsh glare from the girls.

"Look, I think you guys are just a bit too worried about Polybius." Cyborg said, "Don't worry, his good looks aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Hey!" Both girls scolded the older Titan, as the other two just laughed.

"Oh come on girls!" Cyborg said, "Every girl in Jump City wants him, and we know you both do too!"

"Aw man, I wish I had his looks." Beast Boy commented, "I'd be drowning in hot girls right now!"

"And with twelve STDs." Cyborg tacked on, causing both to laugh.

"You right, you right." Beast Boy didn't even deny it.

"Gosh darn it you two, this is serious!" Raven shouted, her anger rising.

"Yeah, seriously not fair." Beast Boy stated "Yo, Rae, you gotta spell to swap looks? We all know Polybius doesn't want his, and I do. Can you do that?"

"Ugh!" Both females grunted in anger as they walked out, leaving the two laughing at their own jokes.

"I swear, they can be so immature sometimes." Raven stated, "Especially Beast Boy."

"I agree." Starfire stated, "We should go and check up on our friend."

"No." Raven said.

"What!?" Starfire asked confused "But you just advocated for-"

"I know, I know." Raven said, "However, I think we should leave Polybius alone for right now."

"Why?" Starfire asked.

"Because it may not be what we think is bothering him, is actually bothering him." Raven said "It may be more personal, like the case with him not joining us for meals. It may be this is just a bad time in his life."

As Raven said this, in the mute Titan's room, Polybius was standing and looking at his bulletin board which was covered in every clue he could get of Montezuma.

And he wasn't alone.

"Robin's right!" The dark Polybius, who Polybius had given the name Darkbius, stated "He is sacrificing people! Why else would he steal a freaking sacrificial dagger!?"

The mute Titan shook his head in shame.

"You can't do anything right!" Darkbius scolded the mute "As you sit here and wallow in misery, people are dying. But it's a good thing that you do sit here because you'd probably just end up getting more people hurt, or more likely killed. After all, you can't even fight him!"

The mute Titan looked down at the ground, knowing full well Darkbius was right. While Polybius sat here unable to figure out the location of the man's hideout, people were dying. Most likely, the Aztec was doing something right now.

And that Aztec was doing something, but not what Polybius was thinking. He, dressed in civilians, cleaning his house as requested by the Sun God.

A few days later the Titans had been informed by mysterious disappearances of shipping ships shipping nuclear waste. This led them to take the new six-seater submarine Cyborg had just finished building the week prior, out to explore and discover what was going on.

And after a long series of events, the team found themselves meeting a young, Alanteean hero named Aqualad who was on this 'Trident' case.

After Beast Boy and Aqualad took off to go find the mysterious villain. Cyborg, Tramp, and Polybius worked on the ship, Robin, Starfire, and Raven meanwhile took a moment to relax.

"Dang it!" Cyborg said as he did something wrong, causing the tool he was using to go flying out of the ship and land off somewhere.

"Yo, Polybius, could you go get that for me?" The teen asked.

The mute gave the half-human a thumbs up as he went off to go get it.

Once there, Polybius picked up the tool but heard the hushed voices of Starfire and Raven talking just on the other side of the rock.

"Could you imagine Polybius wearing Aqualad's uniform." Starfire whispered.

"If Polybius is as ripped as him, he'd be to die for." Raven added.

"That would be quite, the sexy, yes?" Starfire said.

"Totally." Raven finished.

Polybius blinked a few times as he heard the words he wasn't supposed to hear. The two girls began to giggle to themselves.

"So who do you think is the hotter?" Starfire asked.

"Polybius." Raven stated "Polybius by a long shot. Aqualad may be good looking, but he is far outshined by Polybius."

"Agreed." Starfire giggled.

Feeling a sense of anger rise up in him, Polybius quickly turned and stormed away. He handed the tool to Cyborg, who noticed how tightly Polybius was holding it.

"Yo, everything okay?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius gave a fake nod without making eye contact.

"You sure?" Cyborg asked again.

Polybius gave another nod without making eye contact.

"Alright." Cyborg stated.

Ultimately, the team would pull through in defeating Trident. Once home, Polybius headed up to his room and locked himself away again.

"You knew I was right." Darkibus said as Polybius slammed his fist into the wall "Oh, now don't act surprised. No need to throw a childish temper tantrum."

Polybius shook his head and looked at the ground, hunched over, fist against the wall.

"I tried to tell you, Polybius." The dark Polybius stated "They aren't your friends. Those two girls are keeping you around for eye candy."

Polybius didn't respond.

"You know, I honestly don't know why you are still here." Darkbius stated "Oh wait, that's right. Because you've got only one other place you could go! And you can try to run away. From me, but I am apart of you. I always have been and I always will be."

Polybius pushed himself off the wall and landed into his bed. Rolling around so he was on his back, he looked up at his ceiling.

"You should have stayed, Polybius." Darkbius stated, "You should have never left."

Meanwhile, deeper in the tower, the other Titans were sitting on the couch lounging around. Raven was deep into a book. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing a game. Robin was reading up on a potential lead on Slade. And Starfire was looking out the window thinking.

"Hey, Star." Cyborg said "Whatcha thinkin about?"

"Oh, nothing." Starfire tried to lie.

"What's bothering you Star?" Robin looked up.

"Oh…" Starfire started "I am just worried about our friend."

"Polybius?" Beast Boy asked, "He's probably fine."

"Yeah." Cyborg agreed "Probably sleeping. He was working hard to fix the T-sub."

"But what if our friend is not fine?" Starfire asked.

"Well, what do you think is wrong with him?" Raven asked.

"Ever since Robin yelled at him, he seems to become more of the withdrawn." Starfire started "I am afraid that he is not alright."

There was a moment of silence before Robin spoke up.

"You are right." Robin said "He has been more withdrawn since I yelled at him. But it's not like him to hold onto things."

"Yeah." Cyborg said "Guy lets go of things pretty quickly. If there is something wrong with him, I doubt it's that."

Starfire shook her head. She clearly didn't believe her friends.

"You know what." Robin said "How about we all go out to the park tomorrow. Take Polybius with and have a good time with him. That'll make him feel better if anything is wrong with him."

"That is a wonderful idea!" Starfire said with glee "I shall go inform Polybius of our plans for tomorrow!"

With that, Starfire flew out of the room and towards the mute Titan's room.

"You think she likes him?" Beast Boy proposed, causing Robin to tense up.

"Nah." Cyborg said "The girl's a worrier. She's just worried about him. If it were any of us were doing the same thing, she'd worry about us too."

"But is he alright?" Robin asked, "Starfire did propose a good question."

"I'm sure he is." Cyborg said "Polybius is a tough guy. I doubt there is much that can drag him down."

"Yeah, you're right." Robin agreed "We just got to get that idea into Star's head."

"Agreed." Beast Boy said.

Back in the mute Titan's room, Polybius laid in his bed and looked up at the ceiling and listening to Darkbius.

"You know, it's kind of sad really." Darkbius said "How you are so easily fooled into believing things. How you are so quick to accept people's friendship and the illusion of trust."

A knock on the door stopped his rant.

"Polybius!" Starfire called on the other side.

Polybius rolled over so his back was facing the door.

"She knows you heard her and Raven talking about you earlier." Darkbius said "They wanted you to know that they see you as nothing more than eye candy. And now she's here to deny it, or better yet, pretend like she doesn't know you heard it!"

"Oh Polybius, please answer the door!" Starfire begged.

"Don't." Darkbius told him "Turn her away."

Polybius didn't move.

"Please." Starfire begged, "I have something important to tell you!"

Polybius rolled over so he was now facing the door, looking right at it, waiting for the words to come, as well did Darkbius.

"Tomorrow, I and the rest of your friends are going to go to the outdoor park for a day of the fun!" Starfire stated, "And we all wish for you to come with us!"

"Don't go." Darkbius said "Stay here with me. I'm the only one you can trust to tell you what is and isn't. The truth. And the truth is that this is another ploy. To rebuild your confidence and trust in them so they can tear it down again."

"Please answer the door." Starfire pleaded.

Pulling himself out of bed, Polybius stood up and walked over to his door.

"No!" Darkbius shouted, but was ignored.

Polybius opened the door to see the alien girl standing there, with her hands held together in front of herself.

"Polybius!" Starfire said a bit surprised "Are, you okay friend?"

Polybius looked back to his rocking chair where Darkbius had been to see nobody there. The mute then looked back at the alien and smiled and nodded.

"Oh, wonderful!" Starfire said "Come, friend, stop hiding in here and come and join us! We are going to potato the couch and watch some of the wonderfully horrible movies!"

Polybius smiled as the two made their way back to the main room and joined the other three.

After watching three bad movies with the Titans, the group all headed to bed. And the following day, the entire team headed out to the park bright and early.

The Titans made sure to go out of their way to involve Polybius in every activity they did. From Football to cards, to even just taking strolls around the park.

"Isn't it wonderful!" Starfire declared "Just the six of us having the bestest time!"

Polybius smiled warmly as the alien girl said that.

"Please Polybius, you are feeling the better?" Starfire asked him.

Polybius nodded.

"Wonderful!" Starfire said, "Come, let us throw around Cyborg's ball of the foot some more!"

"Yeah!" Cyborg agreed.

Tossing the football around with the other Titans, Polybius had a smile on his face. He began to think about what Darkbius had been telling him yesterday and decided that he was wrong. The Titans weren't lying to him. They genuinely cared about him. And for the first time in a while, Polybius felt happy.

And that lasted for a month, as Polybius wasn't visited by Darkbius again for a long while. However, that didn't mean he quit his intensified search for Montezuma. Yet no matter how hard he thought or looked, there was just nothing on the big man.

But as for Robin's search for Slade, that had news.

The week prior, the team encountered some of Slade's robotic commandos in the field for the first time. And while they were rather easily dispatched, it was clear that they came from Slade. And by picking one of them apart, the Titans had figured out where Slade was going to strike next.

And while the ambush did go well for the Titans, gaining a lot of clues as to Slade through his little chat with Robin, it also had several negative effects. That mainly being Robin completely secluded himself away from all of the Titans in his evidence room. He was desperately trying to find a new lead.

And while he went off and began searching for one, the crime alert went off. And with Robin being on the far side of tow, this left the Titans to themselves to deal with Red X.

The mute Titan watched as the masked criminal was able to quickly and easily dispatch all of the Titans. When Polybius went up to fight him, he didn't get far as the man shot three Xs at him. One that covered the barrel of his flare gun, one that pinned his arms against his chest and backpack to his back, and one that tied his legs together.

This caused Polybius to fall and hit the ground and be practically useless as the masked criminal ran away and then vanished.

When the team met up back at the tower, they discussed with Robin their findings on the strange criminal. And while Robin wished he could have been there, the team knew that Red X most likely had a gadget with his name on it too.

And a week later, the team ran into Red X again. They were right when they thought that the criminal had a gadget with Robin's name on it. With the leader trapped, he ordered the team to take off without him. They did as they were told and while their second fight with Red X was more successful than the first, he still got away.

And then the week after that, Red X and Slade had a meeting where it was revealed that Red X was Robin.

After returning to the tower from the mission, and with it being so late at night, Polybius went to his room.

Seeing Robin do this hit Polybius hard. Not in the feeling of betrayal, as when Robin explained himself, the mute was able to understand why he did what he did. And saw the reasoning as to why he didn't tell anybody.

What was hurting Polybius was seeing just how far the leader was willing to go. How it made Polybius's efforts to find and locate Montezuma look like child's play. How it made Polybius seem so lazy compared to Robin, and he hated it.

Going back to the idea of being seen as his own person, and not being seen as a less awesome Robin, this didn't help. Rather it made Polybius look exactly like that. A bigger but less awesome Robin.

The following two days, Polybius found himself pondering the same questions he was asking himself the night before. And while Darkbius hadn't made an appearance, it didn't help Polybius who was lost in his thoughts.

Despite this, the teen was granted a break when a villain by the name of Mad Mod attempted to incapacitate the Titans using sleep gas. Ane while he successfully incapacitated Robin, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy, he didn't get Polybius. The reason being is that Polybius's lungs had filters built into them that were better than any gas mask could offer, effectively making him immune from many gas attacks, and saving the team that day.

However, he wouldn't be left alone in his room all day to ponder these things as a knock on his door got him out of his rocking chair.

It was Cyborg.

"Yo, what's up?" Cyborg asked the mute "How ya doing?"

Polybius gave a simple thumbs up and a small smile.

"Good to hear." Cyborg stated, before getting on with what he wanted to ask "So you wanna hang out today?"

This came as a bit of a surprise to the mute Titan, who had generally been left alone for a while, as per his request. And it was clear on his face too that he wasn't expecting that as an answer as Cyborg went on to explain.

"Okay, so hear me out." Cyborg said "There's a car show going on downtown. And I don't know if you know this, but I like cars, and I like going fast."

Polybius nodded his head.

"So at this show, they are offering the chance for anybody with a license to drive any car on the lot." Cyborg went on.

Polybius nodded again.

"However, the rules state that there needs to be at least two people in the car." Cyborg explained, "And as of lately, we haven't really hung out all that much, plus you're the only other person of driving age, so I was wondering if you would like to hit the road with me?"

Cyborg had a smile on his face while Polybius's was blank.

Inside his head, the mute Titan was having an internal debate with himself. Despite the fact that he was reeling at his humiliation by Robin, he did want to go. He really wanted to go as he and Cyborg never really hung out all that much as Polybius was busy with Montezuma and Cyborg had his projects he was working on. Their schedules just never lined up for them to hang out.

"Please." Cyborg begged.

Polybius thought about it for a moment longer before settling on a decision. He was going to go with Cyborg.

"Great!" Cyborg said "Come on, let's not waste any time gettin down there. The more time we waste, the crappier of a car we will get! And longer we'll have to wait for the good ones!"

With that, the two-headed downtown to the car showing. The mute Titan could tell his friend was ecstatic about seeing all of the vehicles there. And there was just about every type of car there. From really old cars that people would have been driving in the twenties, to some of the newest models of cars currently being produced.

The first car the two got into was a 1940 Ford Deluxe. Cyborg hopped in the driver's seat and Polybius sat in the passenger's.

"Oh, man!" Cyborg said, "You can just smell WWII in this car."

Polybius was confused as he didn't smell any radiation, brass, or death in the car. Rather he just smelled the Febreze vent clip they had put in the car to make it smell nice.

"Come on, buckle up Polybius!" Cyborg said, "We're going for a ride!"

The mute Titan did as he was told and buckled up. The two then pulled off the lot and went down the pre-designated path that had been assigned to that car.

As the two began driving around, Cyborg began speaking to Polybius.

"Yo, so I don't know if you know this, but you've got Starfire real worried about you." Cyborg said.

Polybius looked at the Titan as the two drove through the open road in the forest, where there was nobody around to hear them.

"Um, yeah." Cyborg said, "A couple of nights ago, Starfire said that you had been gettin more withdrawn ever since Robin had yelled at you."

Polybius nodded as that was true.

"Well, I think, for all of our sakes, you need to show Star that you're okay." Cyborg said, "Just come out a little bit more and spend some more time with us."

Polybius nodded.

"Good." Cyborg said, "Now don't lose sight of Montezuma, but at least make Star think you're okay so she'll stop whining about it."

Polybius nodded his head again.

"Anyway, there was something else I wanted to say to ya, what was it…" Cyborg trailed off as he began thinking about what he had wanted to say to the mute Titan.

There was a long pause before Cyborg thought of it.

"Oh yeah!" Cyborg said, "I also wanted to say thanks."

Polybius shot the teen a confused look.

"Now what you probably don't know is that lately, everybody has been gettin on my nerves." Cyborg said "Not you, of course, but still. Ever since I had that couple of days where I left the team, I think I had a real eye-opener."

Polybius continued to listen, interest now peeked.

"You see, I did a lot of thinking." Cyborg went on "I started thinking about Robin and how mad he had made me. But then I got to thinking about the others, Star, Rae and BB. I started to think about them and how upset they must have been seeing me leave, but then I got to thinking about you."

Polybius raised his eyebrows.

"You see, with you… I thought about how Robin had yelled at you, but you forgave him. And while I don't know what Robin said to you, he told us that it was quite harsh. He never said exactly what, but I couldn't help but keep thinking about how you forgive people." Cyborg went on "And how you forgave me for leaving the team, Beast Boy for all of his stupid pranks, for Starfire and her own incompetence at times, Raven for how rude she can be, Robin for how harsh he can be. And even when I snap at you."

Polybius was almost on the edge of his seat listening to the man speak.

"And I've come to realize that that's something I really like about you, Polybius." Cyborg said, "Despite the horrible things we have done to you, knowing full well you can't defend yourself from our verbal abuse, you still forgive us." Cyborg stated "And the thing is, I can't say that if I lost my voice, I would be able to do the same thing. Heck, I think I would probably leave the Titans if I was treated the way you get treated."

Polybius couldn't help but smile.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry for our behavior towards you." Cyborg went on "You put up with more abuse than anyone else on this team, and the fact that you are still here, says a lot about you."

Polybius's smile grew even bigger as he thought about what Cyborg said.

"So, I want to say thanks." Cyborg went on "Just know that at least we as a team are aware of how much abuse you put up with and despite our best attempts to curb this, there are times we can't help it. Why even Star declared that we couldn't be mean to you because you can't defend yourself. However, we all seem to forget about that which we've all also agreed to. It's just it only comes up after we've hurt you."

Polybius was surprised to hear that the team had come to that agreement. The mute Titan wasn't quite sure if the half-metal Titan was lying to him or not as Polybius hadn't really seen much change from when he joined the team to that moment in time.

"So thanks again." Cyborg said, "And I promise you, things will get better for you, just please give it some time and don't do anything stupid."

Polybius nodded.

The rest of the drive was silent as Polybius thought about what Cyborg had said. It really spoke to the mute that at least the team knew they weren't treating him right. But what would speak to the Titan more is what they planned on doing about it, as clearly their little agreement wasn't working.

As the day went on, Polybius followed Cyborg around as he drove different cars. By the end of the day, Polybius felt happy. And what the dark Polybius had been telling him were all lies and that Cyborg was right. Things were going to get better for him.

Meanwhile, on Paradise Island, a young sixteen-year-old girl sat on the steps of the grand temple and watched two of her sisters practice sparing.

However, she wasn't really paying attention to them. She couldn't help but think about how good her life was at that moment. She had everything she could possibly want. And while she did miss her older sister, it was only a minor thing in the grand scheme of things.

Growing bored of watching the two, she decided to head up to her room. Once there, she sat down in her bed and looked out her window and looked out at the setting sun. She couldn't help but smile at its beauty she loved so much. She loved the outdoors and her life in general.

Laying down in her bed, she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. She felt safe, happy and protected as she drifted off into sleep.

However, unknown to her, or almost anybody on Earth for that matter, was that lightyears away in a solar system far, far away, events were being put in motion.

What was happening was an event that seemed to be quite natural. Two gigantic planets, far larger than Earth, Tamaran, Jupiter, or even the Sun, collided into each other at the speeds of countless billions of miles per hour.

The collision and subsequent explosion sent massive rocks flying in all directions, the largest of which, were on a path for their solar system. However, it would take time for those objects to traverse that great distance. More time than most creatures living on Earth had left.

However, to anyone who was watching the event, saw those very massive rocks begin to disappear and teleport to destinations unknown.

**So there you have it! Chapter 9!**** I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise the next two chapters are going to have a lot of action! A lot!**

**And as always, I hope you have a good rest of your day!**


	10. Chapter 10: Aztecs vs Amazons

_Chapter 10_

_Aztecs vs Amazons..._

Montezuma washed the blood off of himself in his shower. He had just gotten done sacrificing another person to the Sun God. Now he had to get rid of the evidence and wash up before the body began to stink.

However, as the second version of the fearsome warrior stepped out of the shower and began to get dressed in regular clothes, a very familiar voice bellowed through the room.

"Montezuma!" The Sun God called out.

"Yes my Sun God?" The man questioned as he slipped on his shirt.

"I have a mission for you." The voice bellowed.

"Of course." The Aztec stated, "What is it?"

"I want you to sacrifice a descendant of the conquistador, Hernan Cortés." The voice bellowed "As punishment for destroying our glorious empire!"

"And where am I going to find that person?" Montezuma asked.

"Paradise Island." The voice stated.

"Where?" Montezuma asked, confused.

"You know of Wonder Woman, yes?" The voice asked.

"Of course." Montezuma stated.

"She is from a place called Themyscira." The voice stated, "It is an island in the middle of the Agean, not too far from the Greek island of Naxos."

"Will you guide me there?" Montezuma pleaded.

"Of course." The voice bellowed "You cannot get there without my help as the island is hidden away from the world by powerful forces."

"Got it." Montezuma stated, "And who am I looking for?"

"There, a young female washed up on their shores as an infant." The voice bellowed.

"Okay." Montezuma confirmed he was following "I need a name."

"Her name is Donna Troy." The voice put out "If you look at the mirror, you can see her as she is right now."

The mighty Aztec looked at the mirror to see a young female, the same age as Polybius, sitting on the steps to a temple. She was chatting with some of her friends and looked like she was having a good time.

"Remember her face." The voice bellowed "We will have a small time window to kidnap her."

"Alright." Montezuma said, "Can't you just teleport her here, like you did that lady from Gotham, or the other lady from Metropolis, or that girl from, uh, DC?"

"No." The voice bellowed "But I need you to make an appearance there at a very specific time."

"Why?" Montezuma asked.

"Because what we are doing is far bigger than the Titans." The voice bellowed "We are going to destroy the current world order put in place by the Imperialist Europeans and restore our proper way of life!"

"What about Wonder Woman?" The Aztec asked "I don't think you have blessed me with enough power to fight her. I'll probably get beaten badly and all of this will be for not!"

"Don't worry about her." The voice said "I've already taken care of everything. All you have to do is execute."

Two weeks later at Titans Tower, late in the day, Polybius was working in his garden, the Garden of Eden as Beast Boy was now calling it, and tending his plants. Polybius was having a hard time working with the Aloe Vera plants, which seemed to be having a hard time growing. This was causing the teen a lot of stress for himself as he needed them.

"Hey, Polybius." Robin said as he walked up to the mute Titan.

Polybius looked up from the plant and gave a small smile to the leader.

"How're the plants doing?" Robin asked.

The mute Titan shook his head.

"I see." Robin said examining the Aloe Vera plants "It's probably the soil."

Polybius shook his head. The mute Titan thought it was the climate, but Robin didn't press it any further.

"So, Polybius, I wanted to ask you something." Robin said.

The mute Titan looked up at his leader.

"Want to go do something with the team?" Robin asked.

Polybius was completely taken off guard by the question. Aside from Raven, that is the last question he expected to hear come out of Robin's mouth. And it was clear that the leader picked up on this.

"Look, both you and I have been putting a lot of work into catching Slade and Montezuma, and Starfire said we both need to take a break, so I need to know if you like baseball?"

Polybius nodded.

"Great!" Robin said "The game is gonna start in half an hour. See you up in the main room."

Polybius smiled as he finished up with his plants. There wasn't really much he could do for them, and he was getting just enough harvest to sustain himself, so he really didn't have much to worry about.

Heading upstairs, Polybius saw Cyborg with a Chicago Cubs hat on his head.

"Oh yeah!" Cyborg shouted happily "The Cubs are gonna whoop the Cardinals today!"

Polybius then snapped his fingers, getting the large Titan's attention.

"What is it, Polybius?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius shook his head.

Polybius then pulled out his notebook and wrote down something that made Cyborg mad.

"Oh come on!" Cyborg shouted, "Don't you dare tell me you're a Cardinals fan!?"

Polybius nodded his head as he joined the biggest Titan on the couch.

"Oh no!" Cyborg shouted with sarcasm in his voice "You're on the wrong side of this game!"

Polybius shook his head. The mute Titan knew that the Cubs were going down.

"Oh, it's on!" Cyborg said.

The two sat on opposite sides of the couch as the game started up.

"Play ball!" The announcer shouted happily.

Meanwhile, on the far side of the world in Greece, Montezuma, who was dressed in his Aztec garments, was in a small wooden canoe. The boat was driving itself as the big man prepared himself for the mission he was about to undertake.

"Montezuma?" The Sun God asked him.

"Yes?" Montezuma questioned.

"Remember the face of Donna Troy?" The voice asked.

"Show it to me one more time." The man requested.

"Look in the water." The voice ordered.

The Aztec did as he was told and saw that the girl was still awake and it looked like she was just looking out at the stars from her room.

"Alright." The big man said as the image faded away.

"Now you've gotta be quick about this." The Sun god stated, "If you aren't off and away from the island by roughly 6 AM tomorrow, you're gonna have to deal with Wonder Woman."

"What!?" The Aztec said in surprise "I thought you said you took care of her!"

"We'll that is going along with my timing." The voice bellowed "You see Montezuma, the picture I am looking at is far bigger than the one you are. And I have been working hard to put this all together. Lining up events and making sure we take advantage of situations is critically important."

"And that's another thing." The Aztec asked, "If she's an Amazon, then isn't she a Greek, not Spanish."

"Donna was adopted by the Amazons as an infant." The voice stated "Making her the foreigner in that land, no matter how much she looks like Wonder Woman."

"Ah…" The Aztec stated, "That makes sense now."

"Exactly." The voice stated "Now rest up big man. We've got about an hour and a half before you get to the island. From there, you will mostly be on your own, but so long as you use stealth and the powers I have bestowed upon you, you should be fine. I'll create a beacon above her that only you can see to help guide you to her."

"Got it." Montezuma said.

Meanwhile, back in Jump City, during the third inning of the scoreless game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, the Titans got a mission. Apparently, Slade had set up a Chronoton Detonator to destroy time itself.

Naturally, the Titans had to answer the call, however, things didn't go quite as planned as an hour after taking the call, Robin had broken off from the rest of the group to go hunt Slade. The others meanwhile discovered that the detonator was a phony. And then they got shot with some sort of laser weapon that hit all of the Titans hard. Hard enough to push them into the water.

"What was that?" Beast Boy asked as the group surfaced above the sewer water.

"I don't know." Cyborg said, "But whatever it was, it only had enough juice for five shots."

"One for each of us." Raven said.

"Well come on Polybius!" Cyborg said, "Let's get back to Titans tower and finish our ball game!"

Polybius smiled as the team began to make their way towards the tower. Once there, they others joined Cyborg and Polybius in watching the ball game as they awaited Robin's return.

Meanwhile, back in the Aegean sea, Montezuma could see the fabled Paradise island less than a quarter of a mile away.

"Alright." The god stated, "Now I have already put into motion everything to give you the best chance to sneak in."

"Alright." The Aztec said.

"But you need to go out loud." The voice bellowed.

"Yeah… What?" Montezuma asked.

"Getting to the girl is going to be the hard part." The god stated, "However, once you have her securely in your possession, you need to be as loud as you can getting off the island."

"Why?" The Aztec asked.

"Because we want them to know you were here." The voice bellowed "Just to really rub it into their faces."

"I don't think I can take them all on." The follower stated, "I mean, yeah, I'm powerful, but surely not enough to defeat them."

"I have that covered." The god stated "Just leave everything to me. You just focus on getting the girl."

"Whatever you say." Montezuma stated.

"And one more thing!" The voice bellowed as the boat came up on the shore of the island "No killing! Don't kill anyone! Just knock them out if you have to, but not killing, or seriously injuring anyone! If you do so, stopping Wonder Woman will be a much bigger problem, one I can't promise you I can solve."

"Got it." Montezuma said as he stepped off the boat.

"Now go get that girl!" The voice ordered.

As the boat sank underwater to hide itself from prying eyes, and the Aztec warrior quickly made his way into the trees. Once there, he looked up at the sky to see the beacon the Sun God had been talking about. It was a large, glowing, purple arrow in the sky pointing directly down at the target.

"This is almost too easy." The Aztec commented to himself as he began to make his way to the beacon under the cover of darkness.

Montezuma moved quickly and silently through the trees and bushes. He came upon a patrol wandering around, armed in their traditional greek hoplite equipment. They didn't see him and just walked right past him, not even stopping.

"Man, I wish I could fight them." Montezuma whispered to himself "This is a nice island. And seeing Aztec Eagle warriors fight greek hoplites would be something epic to see."

"Focus!" The voice of the Sun God called out "While that would be awesome, that part of the plan is way down the line. It'll be a few years before we get that far. For now, just focus on getting the girl."

"Of course." Montezuma said as he resumed his forward movement.

Coming up on the actual city of the island, Montezuma suddenly realized by what the Sun God was talking about when they said getting her was the hard part.

Despite it being rather late at night and most of the island's inhabitants being asleep, there were still a good number of them standing watch. And his target was towards the far side of the settlement.

"Don't go around." The god stated, "You don't have time."

"Then how am I supposed to get there?" Montezuma whispered.

"With the changing of the guard that is about to happen." The voice stated "They all swap over at the same time. This gives you about a ten-minute window where security will be at its lowest. Which means you should be able to sneak across the rooftops almost the entire way there."

And sure enough, only a few moments later, the Aztec warrior watched as all of the guards suddenly left their posts to go and wake up their relief.

Climbing up on a tree, the Aztec warrior used this to get onto a roof of one of the houses. Once there, he began making his way down the line of houses that lead almost directly to where the beacon was pointing to.

Once at the end of the line of homes, the Aztec warrior was able to easily make his way to the ground by some conveniently placed boxes. From there, he was able to sneak across the street to the house.

Sneaking in through an open window, the Aztec warrior took a moment inside to catch his breath.

"Good." The god stated "Now just get the girl, but be careful. We don't want them to know about you until after you have secured girl.

The warrior didn't respond as he began making his way through the home right to where the beacon was pointing to.

Silently making his way upstairs, the beacon started to fade away as Montezuma came upon the door to Donna's room. Once there, he silently opened the door to find her sleeping in her bed, her back facing away from the door.

"There she is." Montezuma whispered to himself as he entered the room and closed the door behind himself.

"Alright." The voice bellowed, but only Montezuma could hear it "You're finally here."

"I am…" The warrior said as he just realized something important "Wait, I don't have anything to tie her up with."

"I'm already ahead of you." The god stated.

Suddenly, on Donna's night dresser, a large coil of rope appeared.

"Perfect." Montezuma said as he picked up the rope.

"Now I want you to do this in a very specific way." The voice stated.

"How so?" The warrior whispered the question.

"It has to be traumatic for her." The sun god stated, "She needs to pay for what Hernán Cortés did to our people!"

"So what do you want me to do?" Montezuma asked.

"A lot of bluffing." The god started to explain "A lot of threats, a little pain, this knife might help."

Suddenly, in the same spot the rope appeared, the sacrificial dagger the warrior had stolen from the Jump City museum appeared.

"I don't really care what you do. Threaten to rape her, kill her, torture her, whatever you need to do to make this as traumatic as possible for her. You may not be the smartest person to ever live, but I trust you can do this one simple thing without my help."

"Of course." The warrior stated.

"Just again, no killing, or seriously injuring her, or anybody else." The voice instructed, "I've got everything covered, but if you screw this up, I will leave you to these women and whatever consequences they deem fit to bestow upon you."

"Got it." Montezuma said as he walked up to the bedside of Donna's bed.

Looking down at the sleeping girl, the Aztec warrior thought for a moment as to how he could make this as traumatic as possible for the girl. After thinking about it for a moment, he settled on a course of action.

Leaning his macuahuitl against the wall, he used both of his hands to grab hold of the girl. One hand went over her mouth and the other on her arm as he tossed her over so she was on her back, looking up at him.

Donna let out a muffled yelp of terror as she locked her fearful eyes with the Aztec. He looked down on her, and it was clear that terror quickly overtook her.

"Don't you freaking dare do anything stupid." The warrior stated as he quickly got real close to her face, being only inches apart "Not a sound, or what I'm going to do to you is going to be a lot worse than what I already have planned."

Donna didn't move as fear overtook her.

"Blink if you understand me." The Aztec warned.

Donna blinked.

"Good." Montezuma said.

Taking his hand off her mouth, the Amazon tried to struggle against the bigger man. However, with a quick and hard throw to the ground, that ended that real quick.

"Oof!" Donna let out as she hit the ground.

"What did I say!?" The Aztec warned, "You've earned yourself some extra torture later…"

"Please let me go." Donna pleaded in fear.

"Shut up!" The big man whispered loudly.

The Aztec warrior then followed it up with a punch to her jaw to get her to shut up.

"Ow…" Donna let out as he pulled away.

"You say anything else, I'm going to cut out your tongue and force you to eat it!" The Aztec warned.

Grabbing the nearby rope, the Aztec was quick to tie up the defenseless girl. He even went as far as to use his dagger to cut some of the rope to create a gag for her.

"Now then." Montezuma said "To make this known. So that way your sister can waste her time hopelessly looking for you."

Donna struggled as the Aztec picked up his macuahuitl with his right hand, and held her with his left. He walked up to the girl's door and quickly kicked it down with a thunderous amount of force, catching the attention of the few guards outside.

"Time to have some fun." Montezuma said as he hurried down the stairs.

Exiting the building, Montezuma was confronted by two Amazons who were on guard.

"Stop!" One of them ordered.

"Let her go!" The other demanded.

"Not until my people are avenged!" Montezuma stated, "And this descendant of my people's destroyer shall pay the price!"

The two women charged the warrior but were out of their league. With one fell swoop of his macuahuitl, he sent both of them flying into a nearby building.

This gained the attention of everyone on the island as the subsequent collapse of the building put everyone on high alert.

"Man!" One of the Amazons shouted as Montezuma began to make his getaway.

Using Donna as a human shield, this stopped the Amazons from firing arrows at the big man, forcing them to go melee as they didn't want to hurt her. This, however, was going disastrously for them as his super-strength, combined with the far longer reach of his macuahuitl and longer arms, they couldn't get close enough to him to really stop him.

That being said, however, they did have one key advantage over him, and that they had numbers on their side, and they were effectively using this to slow down the Aztec.

"I could use some help here!" The Aztec suddenly shouted in the chaos of screaming women.

"Of course!" The voice only he could hear replied "Let's see how they like a sunset invasion!"

Suddenly, a horde of warriors dressed in traditional Aztec warrior fashion came charging out of an alleyway behind Montezuma. They were a mix of Ocelotl and Cuauhtli warriors as well as a few Coyote warrior priests.

They charged the Amazons with a ferocious battle cry and the battle ensued. As was traditional for Aztec warriors, they made sure not to kill anyone, but rather incapacitate them.

The ensuing battle between Aztecs and Greeks raged on, allowing Montezuma to escape with Donna. However, just as he was getting to the exit of the settlement, two things happened.

Firstly, a fire broke out and quickly engulfed much of the settlement. And secondly, the Amazon queen stopped him.

"You've gone far enough." The queen of the Amazons declared.

She, and a small handful of elite Amazon warriors stood between him and his escape.

"Let her go!" The queen demanded.

"You do not understand!" Montezuma declared "She is a living descendant of Hernán Cortés, the man single handedly responsible for the destruction of the once great and mighty Aztec Empire! She must pay for what he did to my people and my empire!"

"I see." The queen said "Amazons attack!"

As the handful of elite Amazons charged Montezuma, however the Aztec warrior was soon accompanied by an even greater number of Ocelotl warriors. This freed up Montezuma almost entirely to escape. With the minor exception of the queen that was.

"You are not leaving with her!" The queen declared "And you are not leaving this land alive!"

"Think again!" Montezuma said "You Greeks laid the foundation for the Spanish to destroy my people! This is a grievance that cannot be forgiven! And you all will pay for it in this sunset invasion!"

"Our island will not fall!" The queen declared "And you will not win."

"But I already have!" Montezuma said "For I am Montezuma, and I hate losing!"

The two combatants charged each other. The queen was quick to try and land a thrust with her spear on the bigger man. However, this was easily blocked by Montezuma. The Aztec then took a quick swing with his macuahuitl and knocked the queen far away from himself.

With the queen out of the way, the Aztec quickly made his get away to the shore where his boat was. However, as he made his get away, back in the center of the burning settlement, the sunset invaders had taken control of the main temple where the Amazons did most of their praying.

Up at the top, there was a large slab of marble on it with a bull on top of it. The bull had been knocked down by the Aztecs and turned into a sacrificing table.

Dragging up an Amazon with long red hair, she was overpowered by several invading warriors and was brought up on top of the steps of the temple to the place where the bull had once been.

Fighting hard against the men, but to no avail, the Aztecs held her down spread eagle to the marble slab and stripped her of everything.

Once they were ready, a Coyote warrior priest walked up with a sacrificial dagger in hand. He raised it high over the woman's exposed skin and began to speak.

"As the darkness has fallen upon our people, we people have seen hard times! However, we have been saved from total destruction by the Mistress! May the blood of this sacrifice give the sun the power to rise tomorrow, and may we devluge in this heart as to spare us from your wrath as the sun rises on us again!" The priest declared as all of the eyes of the Amazons set on what was going on.

With that, the priest then sunk the blade deep into the woman who cried out in pain. While still alive, the priest then dragged the obsidian blade upwards towards her neck, but stopping just short of reaching that point.

With her last dying breath, the woman watched as the priest stuck his hand inside her still living body, felt him grab her heart, and then watch him pull out the still beating organ for all to see.

"For our survival!" The priest shouted loudly for all Amazons to hear.

The priest then quickly brought the heart to his mouth and began eating the raw, still beating organ. The body of the female warrior was then decapitated and body tossed down the stairs. Her head was put on a pike and stood up in front of the temple.

"By the gods." The queen said as she watched what was unfolding at the grand temple.

Seeing this, this was a massive morale blow for the Amazons as it seemed that the sunset invaders were going to destroy them.

However, after another fifteen minutes of fighting, suddenly, with no rhyme or reason, the Aztec warriors suddenly fled, taking everything they had brought with them into the forest, including all of their dead.

"After them!" The surviving Amazons declared.

Despite being very close to the invading warriors, as soon as they lost sight of the Aztecs, they seemed to have vanished. Not a single trace except for all of the destruction they had caused, could be found.

Meanwhile, back on the raft Montezuma had used to enter the island, he was now using to get off the island.

Well out of bowshot, he had successfully gotten away and now was on his way back to Jump City with his prisoner, Donna Troy.

**And there you have it. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, I'll say that.**

**Also, please leave me some feedback as to how I am doing. I am in the dark about what's good and what's not, so please let me know. Weather that's a PM or review, I'll do my best to answer back as soon as I can. It maybe be a few says since I'm really busy, but I will get back. Thank you all!**

** Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and have a good rest of your day.**


	11. Chapter 11: Save Me

_Chapter 11_

_Save me..._

After the Cardinals dropped the ball in the eighth inning and lost the game, Cyborg was naturally very happy and proud his team had won. And while he would have rubbed it in Polybius's face, there were bigger problems looming over the Titans.

"Why hasn't Robin come back yet?" Starfire asked.

Nobody had an answer, and unable to get ahold of Robin, the team split up and searched the city. And despite hours of relentless searching, nothing came up.

"I don't get it." Cyborg said, "How did this guy just fall off the face of the Earth?"

Nobody had an answer as the Titans met back up at the tower.

Meanwhile, back in what was left of Paradise Island, Wonder Woman was expecting to have a pleasant week visiting the island home. However, she was shocked to see the smoke rising from the ground.

"Great Hera!" Wonder Woman stated when she saw the smoke.

She was quick to land and search the island to discover what had happened. What she saw were the ruins of buildings, a lot of blood, and her injured mother.

"Mother!" Wonder Woman called out.

"Diana." The queen said as she rushed to her mother's side.

In her fight with Montezuma, just an hour before the arrival of Wonder Woman, when he launched her into a nearby building, he broke her leg in the process. This left her dependent on a few helpers to move her around.

"What happened?" Diana asked the obvious question.

"We were invaded." The queen spoke "By a man by the name of Montezuma. He claimed that your sister, Donna, was the descendant of a man by the name of Hernán Cortés. He claimed that she had to pay for his destruction of the 'Aztec Empire.' He kidnapped her and fought us in what he called a 'sunset invasion.' Not really much of an invasion considering that almost as soon as he left, his warriors broke off and disappeared, leaving only destruction and horrid memories in their wake."

"Memories?" Wonder Woman questioned.

"Artemis, your friend and one of the fiercest warriors among us was captured by the invaders. She was dragged atop the temple where our brazen bull one stood. They knocked down the bull and sacrificed her to someone called 'the mistress.'"

"Great Hera…" Wonder Woman said as she imagined what had happened to her friend.

"That's not all." The queen went on "In the sacrifice, the priest cut her open and ripped out her still-beating heart. He then rambled on a little bit before eating the organ and tossing the decapitated body downstairs and putting her head on a pike."

"By the Gods." Diana said as tears began to form in her eyes "What about Donna?"

"I don't know." The queen said "At first we thought this was just a kidnapping, so we didn't want to kill her. However, when it became clear that this was an invasion, it was too late. There were too many of them and we were overpowered."

"How?" Diana asked.

"When they attacked, they came out of nowhere." The queen explained, "They came running out of an alleyway and aided in Montezuma's escape."

Wonder Woman racked her mind as to how this could have happened. How could an army of warriors just appear out of nowhere, only to then disappear as soon as they appeared?

"One more thing." The queen added, "One thing we noticed about the warriors is that they all looked almost exactly like Montezuma."

As Wonder Woman gathered more information as to what had happened, much later in the day back in Jump City, the Titans got a call that somebody was robbing a high tech firm. The team had expected this to be a routine job.

Not to run into Robin who was now working for Slade.

Later that night, after Robin made a clean getaway, the team sat around the main room discussing what had happened and how to deal with this new development.

After hours of listening to the others talking to one another about how to deal with the development, Cyborg then turned to Polybius.

"What about you?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius looked up at the big teen and pulled out his notebook. In the mute's mind, there had to be something forcing him to do what he was doing. Perhaps Slade was threatening something Robin loved, and was using that as his bargaining chip over him.

"That actually sounds quite logical." Raven said after she read what Polybius had written "The question would then have to be what? What is Slade threatening?"

However, this question wouldn't be answered as the crime alert went off.

"It's him." Beast Boy stated.

Going into the mission, Polybius knew for a fact that the tools he had at his disposal were useless. Everything in his backpack, Robin had a better version of it. Everything Polybius could possibly throw at Robin, the former leader could counter.

Expect his powers.

Polybius knew that his only hope in taking down Robin was to use his back tentacles and rely on his thick skin to carry him through the fight. The mute Titan knew that as soon as he got ahold of Robin with one of them, it was over.

He just had to get ahold of him.

After confronting Robin inside the building, the former masked leader made a quick getaway up to the roof. However, while up there, he paused, allowing the Titans to catch up.

"Robin!" Cyborg shouted, "Look, man, we just wanna talk."

The response Cyborg got was a kick to the face from Robin.

After watching Robin take on and bring down Beast Boy and Raven rather quickly, Polybius drew out his stone club in the hopes of fooling Robin into thinking that he wasn't going to use his powers against him.

Polybius swung his club at the masked teen. This swing was promptly dogged and Robin did a spinning sweep under the mute. This caused Polybius to fall onto his back and for Robin to jump away.

As the fight dragged on, it became evident that the Titans were on the losing end of the engagement. However, everything seemed to pause when Starfire and Robin stood ten meters apart. He pointed his blaster at her and she had a Starbolt aimed for him.

The mute Titan dropped his backpack and decided to watch.

After a brief exchange, Robin dropped his act for a brief moment, only for all of the Titans to suddenly get overcome with pain.

But not Polybius.

When Starfire dropped, Robin caught her and set her down. Polybius however, while in severe pain, resolved to bite down on his tongue and carry on the fight.

The mute Titan dropped his backpack and opened up his back. A single black tentacle came out from the teens back and began making its way towards Robin at a blindingly fast pace.

The tentacle slammed into the former leader's face at the same speed and force of a runaway freight train. This sent Robin flying across the building top, but he did not fall off.

The leader then looked at Polybius, who was in a lot of pain, but standing tall while the other Titans could barely move.

"How?" Robin questioned as Polybius faced him.

That question went unanswered as Polybius was quick to raise up the tentacle high above Robin and slam it into the ground. Robin dogged this as expected, but got caught when Polybius elegantly did a side sweep, catching the former leader off guard. This hit Robin hard and caused him to do a couple of spins in the air before landing back on the ground.

However, almost as soon as he hit the ground, he pointed his blaster right at Polybius's face and fired.

The mute Titan took the hit, and while it normally wouldn't have affected him, with how hard he was fighting to stand up at that moment, the hit caused him to stumble backward and fall over.

It wasn't long after that, that the pain that had engulfed Polybius suddenly vanished and he was only left with the pain in his back.

"Dudes…" Beast Boy started "What was that glowy thing that just happened?"

This question would go unanswered as it wasn't long until Robin attacked again. Hitting Polybius first, Robin came flying down from the height he had perched himself on and kicked Polybius in the back of his head on the way down. After that, Robin made quick work of the rest of the Titans and withdrew.

"When did Robin learn those tricks?" Beast Boy asked, referring to the pain they all had just endured.

"I don't think it is Robin who has learned new tricks." Starfire said, "I think Polybius was right, and we are the ones that are threatened."

"So if we can take out Slade, then we can get Robin back!" Cyborg stated.

"We don't know that for sure." Raven put it bluntly "Robin may have a weapon that caused that to happen."

"Oh come on Raven!" Beast Boy complained.

"No, she's right." Cyborg said "We have to be sure that it's us who are threatened. Let's go back to Titans tower and figure it out."

Although everyone was quite sure that Starfire was right, they had to make sure. And sure enough, after hooking up Polybius to a machine, they detected discrepancies on the nanoscopic level. This revealed itself to be probes inside all of the Titans that attacked their red blood cells, preventing them from carrying oxygen to the rest of the body.

"Alright." Cyborg said "I put a tracker on Robin during our fight back there. I bet you he's with Slade right now. If we move in, we may be able to catch Slade and take him out."

"And if he uses his nanoprobes on us?" Starfire asked.

"Doesn't matter." Raven said "We are superheroes. We are willing to lay our lives down for peace and justice. And if that's the price we must pay to save Robin, then so be it."

The team then understood what they were about to get themselves into and decided to go after Robin now, knowing full well that they may lose their lives in the process.

Meanwhile, back in Greece, Montezuma sat watching Donna, who was completely overcome with fear. They were still in their little canoe as a storm had forced them to stay put for some time as they waited for it to pass.

Montezuma sighed as he looked out east to see the sun begin to rise behind grey clouds.

"All for you." Montezuma stated before looking back at Donna.

The girl tried to put as much distance between herself and the Aztec as the boat would allow. However, she was unable to roll over into the water as Montezuma had both tied her to the boat, and to a leash that he held on to.

"So you're probably wondering where we're headed." Montezuma stated "And what I'm going to do to you. Well don't worry, those questions will be answered all in good time, and during that time, you will pay for what your ancestor did to my people!"

Donna let out a muffled whimper as she tried to look for an escape.

"Don't bother." Montezuma said, "You can't escape justice."

Back in Jump City, the Titans had entered Slade's hideout. There, they found Robin fighting Slade, and they all intervened, despite the leader telling them to get out of there. However, just as Raven had said earlier, they were willing to lay their lives down.

And while the first thing Slade did was go after them, in a rather dumb move, he left the device that had infected them in the first place just sitting out. This allowed Robin to then infect himself with the nanoprobes and cause Slade to lose his bargaining chip over him.

Slade then tossed the controller aside, causing it to shut off the device and for all of the Titans to recover from the attack. Subsequently, it led to the Titans kicking Slade's teeth in and him barely escaping them.

"Well alright!" Cyborg said victoriously.

The team then turned to Robin.

"Thanks, guys." Robin said with a smile on his face.

"Dude, we'd never let you down!" Beast Boy said for the team "We're a team, and we've got to fight for each other, no matter how terrible the costs."

"That's the most mature thing I think you've ever said." Raven commented, and Beast Boy smiled.

"Let's go home." Robin said.

As the Titans made their way across town back to Titans Tower, back in the Agean sea, the boat was still stuck in place because of the storm.

"Gosh dang it!" Montezuma said in anger, slamming his fist into the seat "Can't we land in Turkey or something and catch a flight back there?"

Donna looked confused at the man, who seemed to be having a whole conversation with himself.

"Then let's land in Istanbul and you just whip me up the ticket I need to get back!"

Donna couldn't help but wonder who he was talking to.

"We really have to wait for this storm?" Montezuma asked, "It's been going on for hours!"

And what they were saying back.

"Fine, if it's only half an hour until we move forward, that's fine. I've waited this long to bring back Aztec civilization and take vengeance on the conquistadors who destroyed it! I can wait a little longer."

Donna then looked out at the sea, hoping to see Diana, her sister, come flying through the air to rescue her. Or for the storm to suddenly turn their way so it would take this man out.

Thinking about man, Donna realized this was the first man she had ever encountered. She began to think about what her mother had said about men and looked at him in that light.

This man was certainly corrupted by greed and insatiable lust for his desires. How he was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goals, regardless of how many of her sisters were dead.

This then made her think about the invasion. How many of her sisters had died the previous night? Were there any Amazons left? Was she the last one? Was Diana too killed off?

All of these questions floated around in her mind but were suddenly silenced when the man let out a roar of rage.

That was all it took before the Aztec backhanded her hard out of pure hate.

"I can't wait to torture you, Hernan Cortés." Montezuma referred to her by that name for the first time "You took everything from me! I was once the most powerful man in all of the Americas and you took all of that from me! My people, my gold, my wealth, my empire, my family! You used me as your puppet to rule over my empire! You shall pay for what you have done! You hear me Cortés!?"

Montezuma then punched Donna in her stomach hard.

"Oh, we're going to have so much fun once we get back to Jump City." Montezuma said, "And it's all going to end when I sacrifice you to the Sun God!"

Back in Jump City, hours after getting Robin back from Slade, the team met up in the main room and began discussing what had happened. However, this all changed when Raven made a small mistake.

"I know this isn't my style, but we just kicked Slade's butt." Raven stated, "Shouldn't we celebrate or something?"

Everybody looked at the girl with a look of surprise that it was she who put the idea forth, but suddenly, Beast Boy piped up, and Cyborg knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Breakfast explosion!" Was all Polybius caught them saying.

The two then took Raven and ran off into the kitchen, leaving the other three alone. Robin and Starfire began talking, but due to the noise the three in the kitchen were making, Polybius couldn't hear the two of them talk.

This allowed Polybius the time he needed to think about the Titans.

Polybius's mind first went back to that car ride in that Ford Deluxe with Cyborg and what the teen had said to him. How it made Polybius not only feel happy but how it also made him feel like he had a home with the Titans.

He then thought about how far they had all just gone for Robin, a man they had all met not even six months ago. How they all just risked their lives for him, regardless of everything. It made Polybius think just how much, in such a short space of time, he had made the best friends he had ever had.

There was no doubt in the mute Titan's mind that at that present moment with the Titans, he was living his best life. That these five young heroes had made such an impact on his life. How just by chance of being in the right place at the right time, brought forth a golden age for him.

"So Polybius." Robin said, bringing the mute Titan out of his thoughts "I really want to say way to go in that fight on top of the Wayne building you had with me."

Polybius smiled.

"Oh yeah!" Cyborg was heard commenting from the kitchen "There is no pain that can hold Polybius down! No sir!"

"Yeah." Robin added, "I tell you, seeing you fight, despite the severe amount of pain you must have been in was amazing."

"I told ya, Robin!" Cyborg shouted from the kitchen again "Polybius is the most malleable Titan we have on the team!"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said, "Whatever that m word means, Polybius is tough!"

"Indeed." Raven added.

"And he is a wonderful friend!" Starfire finished.

Despite everything that had ever happened to Polybius, and despite his instincts, never before had Polybius been so glad that he chose to fight that day.

"And the best part is that this is only the beginning!" Robin added, "Who knows what other amazing adventures we'll be going on as a team!"

With that, Polybius smiled. Never before had the mute Titan been so eager to see what the future had in store for him. What challenges he would have to face, enemies he would have to fight, hardships to overcome.

But regardless of what happened, he knew he had at least five people in the whole world he could count on to have his back no matter what.

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Diana looked at the rough sketch her sisters had provided her of what the invaders' faces had looked like.

"You are certain they all looked like this?" Diana asked.

"That's what they all looked like." Her mother told her "I don't know what unholy powers that man had, but he must be taken down and pay for what he did."

Looking down at the rough sketch, although at that moment in time Diana didn't know it, the sketch matched up almost perfectly with Polybius's face, setting into motion events that were going to put a lot of people to the test.

"And please." Her mother asked, "Please try to bring your little sister back safely."

"Of course mother." Diana said, "But are you certain that you don't need my help in rebuilding?"

"We've got the fires under control." The queen told her daughter "We can recover fine on our own. Just focus on Montezuma."

With that, Diana took off to begin her own investigation of the mysterious sunset invaders. Whose leader had finally made it to shore, and hours later, with the help from the Sun God, smuggled Donna Troy all the way back to Jump City.

Hiding her in an oversized duffel bag, the Aztec warrior drove up to his home in his old, beat-up Carolla. Once he parked in his driveway, he went into his trunk and pulled out the duffel bag and hauled it downstairs into his basement where he did all of his Aztec rituals, away from prying eyes.

Throwing the duffel bag down on the ground, the Aztec was quick to finally take the gag off the girl and propped her up on the sacrificial pool table.

"Finally." Montezuma said as he propped her up on the table "Heavier than you look. Some cardio wouldn't kill you, but that doesn't matter. We're home and I can finally get to work with you."

"Hold up." The voice of the Sun God that could only be heard by Montezuma bellowed.

"What?" Montezuma looked away from Donna, who was both too stricken in fear and in too much pain to resist the man.

"Now, now Montezuma." The voice started "You can't just kill her off like that."

"Why not?" Montezuma said.

"Because this is the descendant of Hernan Cortés!" The voice stated, "The man who took everything from you!"

"I know." Montezuma stated, "And?"

"You need to take your time with this one." The voice stated, "A couple of months of torture before you send her off to me would please me greatly!"

"I like your thinking." Montezuma agreed "However, I made reservations at Applebees, so is it cool if I just lock her up in that dog cage over there?"

"So long as you keep her alive and in a relatively okay condition." The voice said "I don't want her starving or dehydrated. She may refuse to eat or drink, so you'll probably have to force it."

"I wouldn't expect any less from the Amazonian descendant of Hernan Cortés." Montezuma said as he picked up the girl and put the gag back on her.

The Aztec then threw the girl into the cage that was barely big enough to fit her in. He really had to work to get her body in there and be able to close the door.

But he was able to and left Donna in a very uncomfortable position and in complete darkness. For the first time since she had been kidnapped, she cried. As tears streamed down her face, she wished nothing more than to be home right now and away from this monster. For Diana to swoop in and save her from him.

But deep down inside, she was almost certain that she was going to die down here, cold, alone, scared, and abandoned.

**And there you have it! Poor Donna...**

**Also, there was no way to write this without writing Wonder Woman into it. She won't be a main character, I promise, but she has to be involved for the story to work.**

**And lastly, I also ask for some feed back. I don't know how I'm doing right now since I'm not seeing anything. Am I doing good, bad? Please either leave a review or PM me and let me know what's up. Thanks in advance.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story and have a good rest of your day!**


	12. Chapter 12: Polybius vs Wonder Woman

_Chapter 12_

_Polybius Prussia vs Wonder Woman..._

With the major defeat Slade just took, it seemed to the Titans that he would be gone for a while. This freed up Polybius to renew his search and investigation for Montezuma. However, just as before Slade showed himself to the Titans, there was still nothing helping Polybius discover the location of the crazed Aztec.

And so, Polybius often found himself searching with no answers, doing something with one of the Titans, tending to his garden, maintaining his weapons, throw in a mission whenever it happened, and that had become Polybius's life. And he was happy with it.

However, now four months had passed since Slade had been defeated by the Titans. And now, Robin was starting to say that Slade needed to be put back on the radar. And while this did slightly chip away at Montezuma's focus, the Aztec was still the primary concern of the team.

As for Darkbius, the dark man hadn't shown his face to Polybius for a while now. This made Polybius think that he may have just been a temporary thing, and now that he was no longer doubting his team, the man would be gone forever. Yet Polybius was still worried that one day, he may show his face again.

On top of that, there was more good news to be had. When the team first formed, Robin was against cellphones due to how easily they could be hacked. However, as a reward for all of the Titan's hard work, they were all put on one phone plan. Polybius now found himself in possession of whatever phone Cyborg had built for him.

Speaking of Cyborg, by this point in time the big Titan had also built a six-seater car. Ever since his trip to that car show, Cyborg said he missed having a car. So after the defeat of Slade, he built a new one. Which was then destroyed about four hours later, but then he and Raven rebuilt it. This gave the Titans vehicle access and deploy faster than ever before.

Now that some time had passed since that had all happened, Polybius once again entered his room to begin the next search for Montezuma. But, he couldn't help but think about the 'game' Beast Boy had just shown him. It was called 'Whack your Boss.' It was an interesting game, to say the least. Polybius's personal favorite kill was the wall.

Regardless, it was time for Polybius to get back to work on Montezuma. The teen sat down in his swivel chair and got straight to work on searching up for some more information about Aztec culture. The mute Titan had started wondering earlier in the week that maybe there was something he had missed in his research of the Aztec people that may give him an answer as to why Montezuma was doing what he did. Or at the very least, give him a clue as to where the big man was hiding.

The only thing the mute Titan was certain about was that the Aztec had to have some sort of motivation from Huītzilōpōchtli, the Aztec god of the Sun and War. And by learning about the rituals, Polybius also knew he needed to work harder to find the man as the mute Titan was afraid that the man could have a dead body count. If so then that would make what Robin said about people getting killed, right.

The mute Titan forced himself to push the game out of his mind as he continued his research on Aztec culture, specifically mythology. While myths may not be the most useful thing, Polybius was running out of ideas for places to look.

As Polybius was diving more into the Ahuizotl, he was interrupted when something suddenly flew through his window. The suddenness of it all startled him as he stood up and looked at who had just busted through his window.

The person standing in front of him was none other than the famed Wonder Woman herself. Polybius relaxed for a split second before getting angry that she burst through his window.

"You!" Wonder Woman said in a threatening tone.

Polybius shot her a confused look before pointing at the door to his room, showing her that he indeed had a door she should have gone through instead of the window that was going to be expensive to replace.

"Polybius!" Wonder Woman spat quite angrily "Or should I say Montezuma!"

Polybius's mind suddenly went blank for a moment as he tried to figure out why he was being called Montezuma.

"You're going to pay for what you did!" She shouted at him.

It suddenly then clicked for Polybius that he was in deep trouble for something he didn't remember doing.

Rushing towards him, Wonder Woman took Polybius by the collar of his jacket and lifted him up off the ground.

"You attacked my home, killed one of my sisters and kidnapped another!" Wonder Woman said as Polybius's face grew a look of concern "Where is she!?"

"Put him down!" Robin suddenly ordered as he and the other Titans burst through Polybius's door.

"Stay out of this!" Wonder Woman ordered.

"You're attacking one of our teammates!" Robin returned "It's our problem as much as it is his."

"I don't have time for this!" Wonder Woman said.

Without warning, the famous heroine suddenly took Polybius and flew out of the same window she just flew in, too fast for Starfire, Raven or Beast Boy to react to in time. She took Polybius high above Jump City and held him up.

"Where is Donna!?" Diana demanded as she grabbed her lasso of truth.

The mute Titan found himself in the unfortunate situation of being without his backpack full of weapons. It was sitting in his room in the same place he always put it at the foot of his bed. This left him either defenseless or completely reliant on his powers.

"I swear to the gods, you are going to pay for what you did to Paradise Island!" Wonder Woman threatened as she put the lasso around him "The lasso compels you! Now speak! Where is Donna!?"

Being mute, naturally, Polybius couldn't talk. The lasso glowed, but Polybius didn't feel compelled to do anything.

However, being in the position he was in, that didn't give him any comfort being that if she dropped him, he wasn't even sure he could survive the fall.

"You cannot resist the lasso's powers!" Wonder Woman proclaimed as she tightened it around him.

Polybius could because she was giving him an order that was impossible for him to follow. Plus even if he could speak, he had no clue as to where this Donna girl was, or what had happened to Paradise Island. Both of these questions, Polybius wish he had the answers to.

It was clear to Polybius that Wonder Woman was a bit surprised that he was not only resisting the lasso's powers but also showed no sign of being affected by it.

"Looks like I'll have to do this Batman's way." Wonder Woman commented to herself as she withdrew her lasso.

The next thing the mute Titan knew is he found himself upside down by his right ankle. His hat fell off his head and went falling to the ground.

"Speak!" Wonder Woman commanded, "Before I drop you!"

Polybius looked up at the superheroine with a blank look on his face. He was honestly, only half expecting her to drop him. And if she did, to save him at the last moment as Robin had done before from time to time.

But Polybius had another trick up his sleeve and in his back.

"Fine." Wonder Woman said, "Have a nice fall."

As soon as she let go of him, Polybius shot out one of his back tentacles and wrapped it around Wonder Woman's left ankle. Using the momentum from the fall, Polybius swung himself onto her back and then made a feeble attempt to choke her out.

This failed as while it did take Wonder Woman off guard, she was easily able to get ahold of the teen, who by this point had let go of her ankle, and threw him towards the ground.

In an attempt to save himself from becoming a splat of flesh and blood on the ground, Polybius used his back tentacles to latch onto the Wayne enterprises building and pull himself into the sign.

Once his feet made contact with the rooftop, Polybius saw Wonder Woman flying towards him at a blazing speed.

"Montezuma!" She called out as she punched him in the mute's face.

The force of this hard-hit was enough to send Polybius flying off the building and into the traffic below.

Crashing into the ground, Polybius made a small crater around where he had landed. And while for some heroes, this would have been it and the fight had been over, this was Polybius. This was the thick-skinned mutant that many of Jump City's criminals feared. This was the man, whose organs despite being denied oxygenated blood, continued to fight like it was nothing. This was the Titan who could take the hardest hits and just shrug them off. This was Polybius Prussia!

Standing up, Polybius saw people begin to flee the area as was normal in these kinds of circumstances. He also saw Wonder Woman lower herself to the ground, just hovering a few inches off of it.

The two squared up with each other as Polybius began to think about how he was going to deal with this situation. He knew that in the air, he had very little chance of winning the fight. That being said, if he could keep things on the ground, then he should have a fair shot at beating her. However, this fight would be a serious test of his skills, strengths, and abilities.

"I'm going to give you one chance and one chance only to yield, Montezuma!" Wonder Woman demanded.

Polybius pointed to himself and shook his head, trying to convey the message that he was not Montezuma.

"Then so be it." Wonder Woman said, not picking up on the message.

Launching herself towards the mute, Polybius was quick to respond. Using his back tentacles, Polybius quickly launched two of them at Wonder Woman. With his tentacles and her moving so fast, the Amazon had no time to react to this and quickly found herself entangled in them.

With her trapped, Polybius withdrew one as she struggled against the other. However, due to Polybius's back tentacles being so strong, she was unable to break free from it. This then prompted Polybius to put the squeeze on her as she began struggling for breath.

Not wanting to kill her, and knowing she could take a beating, just before she passed out Polybius loosened his grip and threw her into the Wayne Enterprises building. He threw her so hard that she went through the building and crashed into the one behind it. This caused a smoke cloud to rise up from the crash.

Even though in his mind, Polybius thought that that would take care of her, he had been in enough fights and seen even more to know that it was very possible that she was still awake and after him.

In an attempt to keep himself from being taken by surprise, Polybius utilized a power of his that he rarely used because of the headaches it would give him.

That being Polybius was sort of like the Predator in the sense the could change his vision. Not from 20/20 to 20/400, but rather he could swap out from normal seeing, to seeing thermal vision, to seeing night vision, and a multitude of other visions he had at his disposal. The only indicator of the change of vision is that his eye color would change with it. And this ability had no cool downtime.

And while Polybius didn't use it because of the headaches it would give him, at this point, he would rather have a headache than his head on a pike. The mute Titan was quite sure that Wonder Woman may be trying to kill him, or at the very least, cause serious, irreversible damage to him.

Swapping over to his thermal vision, his eyes changing from blue to grey, the smoke cloud suddenly vanished and Polybius had eyes on Wonder Woman again. Her body stood out in white from the rest of the smoke. That body being in an upright position and flying towards him.

Now it was Polybius's turn to get sent flying. Again. This punch wasn't as hard as her previous one, it still sent the mute Titan flying down the street. As he went flying, he swapped his vision back over to normal and crashed into a semi-truck transporting Walmart goods.

Quickly getting up from this, the mute Titan had no time to react as he suddenly found himself once again entangled in the lasso of truth. Feeling a hard yank, Polybius was suddenly sent flying around in circles before crashing into the Walmart the truck was headed to, causing a cloud of smoke to cover him.

The mute Titan crashed into the TV section of the building. One of those TVs was running a rerun of an episode of the Chapelle show. As Wonder Woman slowly reeled her lasso back in, one of the most famous moments of the show began to play.

"What did the five fingers say to the face?" The TV asked.

After a brief moment of silence, both Polybius and the show became in sync for two seconds as Polybius used one of his back tentacles to slap Wonder Woman across the face.

"SLAP!" The TV shouted at the same time Polybius's tentacle slapped her across the face.

This caused Wonder Woman to lose her grip on her lasso and go flying into the parking lot outside.

With himself freed, Polybius quickly jumped out and ran out into the parking lot to face her.

The two combatants squared off again, this time both taking a more cautious approach.

"You nearly destroyed Themyscira, sacrificed one of my sisters to your mistress, kidnapped my little sister, broke my mother's leg, and have been going unpunished for four months!" Wonder Woman spat at him "I am going to send you to Tartarus for this!"

Polybius didn't have time to think about what she was saying as she charged him again. This time, the mute Titan waited until the last possible minute before doing a humiliating, quick sidestep to his right, narrowly avoiding her attack. As she passed him, Polybius used one of his back tentacles to grab her by her ankle and begin absolutely thrashing her by slamming her into anything and everything. From light poles to cars to the ground itself.

By this point in time, Polybius had deduced his goal was not to kill Wonder Woman but to incapacitate her. And by thrashing her as hard as he was, he was hoping she would give up the fight and the two could relax and she could figure out that he wasn't Montezuma, but rather the one who had been unsuccessfully looking for him.

After smashing her into everything for a good couple of minutes, Polybius threw her hard into the ground right in front of him. She was still awake but dazed. The mute Titan walked up to her and looked down on her, knowing full well he was putting himself at great risk. However, the Titan wanted to see if she had calmed down enough.

Polybius very wrong as almost as soon as he looked down on her, he found himself off the ground, once again being held by the collar of his jacket.

As Wonder Woman flew straight upwards, taking the mute Titan along with her, Polybius did a desperate move to get himself back on the ground before they got too high.

Grabbing the arm the Amazon was using to hold him with both hands, Polybius then began giving her an Indian burn on her arm by quickly rubbing his gripped hands in opposite directions at a fast pace.

Wonder Woman let out a cry of pain as she dropped the Titan. And while Polybius did make it to the ground, his feet touched it for only a split second before the heroine flew into him and began flying away with him at high speed.

Flying through several buildings, Polybius took a serious beating, but not serious enough to take him out of the fight, but enough to make him extremely desperate.

After flying through the seventh building Wonder Woman began flying up again. However, with the position Polybius was in, she couldn't see his head, which gave him a huge advantage at that moment.

Bringing his stomach out of his body, the three-pronged organ revealed itself. Taking advantage of the vast amount of open skin on her body, Polybius was quick to sink the talon of his stomach into her exposed skin.

Wonder Woman let out a huge cry of pain as Polybius repeatedly drove his long talon into her exposed back, causing a fair amount of blood to come out of her body as he did this. However, Polybius was also very careful not to inject her with his digestive enzymes as it was also an extremely potent venom.

That was the other thing about Polybius's digestive enzymes. While it did turn any food into a liquid, slushie like mix, it also worked as a venom. A very potent and deadly venom. Polybius knew for a fact that his venom was the deadliest venom on the planet, and a nanodrop of it could kill just about any creature to ever exist. On top of that, only he was immune to it.

What the digestive enzymes/venom would have done to Wonder Woman should Polybius injected her with them, is first, it would have rapidly paralyzed her, but leaving her alive to wallow in pain for the five to ten minutes she would have left. Because the first body system to shut down would be most of the muscles. However, the heart and other major organs would stay alert and working, keeping the victim alive for later consumption.

But again, Polybius was not trying to kill her and injecting her with any venom would have ended her life, and the fight, right then and there. However, she instead dropped him again and crashed into a building before sliding down it and landing on her feet. Meanwhile, Polybius quickly drew his stomach back into his body before one of the Titans saw it.

When Polybius hit the ground, he looked back to see Wonder Woman still standing, meaning the venom was not in her system. However, her blood could be seen running down her uniform and dripping on the pavement below.

The mute Titan approached her and tried to signal that he was willing to stop the fighting to get her the help she needed, but that didn't work. Instead, she again, picked him up off the ground, this time using both hands to hoist him up by his jacket collar. She again flew high off the ground, but not so high where Polybius wasn't sure whether or not he survive the fall. He knew that if she dropped him from this height, he would live.

"You tried to take everything from me!" Wonder Woman "My home, my family, my people!"

Wonder Woman then paused to punch him in his face with her right fist, causing the Titan to have a bloody nose.

"I'm going to see to it personally that justice is served." Wonder Woman said in a threatening tone "You- Ew!"

The Amazon was cut off when in a desperate attempt to free himself, Polybius took all of the saliva, blood, and mucus that was in his mouth and spit it directly into her mouth.

This surprisingly worked and she dropped him again. Wonder Woman then took a moment to get the spit that Polybius had just spit into her mouth out as best she could. This gave Polybius enough time to hit the ground and go on the offensive.

Just as Wonder Woman looked back down on him, Polybius grabbed hold of her ankle using one of his back tentacles again and quickly pulled her down at an alarming rate. Then using two more of his back tentacles, he launched himself upwards and made a fist with his right hand.

Performing what had to be one of the greatest uppercuts in the history of uppercuts, Polybius punched Wonder Woman right under her jaw harder than he had ever hit anybody in his life. However, from his personal experience, hitting somebody under the jaw was like pressing their night-night-button. In his mind, this move should end the fight.

Expecting this heavy of a hit to knock Wonder Woman out cold, Polybius let go of her as she was sent flying into the park and crashed into one of the playgrounds. Naturally, the mute Titan followed her and when he saw she was not moving, a single thought came to mind.

Oh shoot, I hit her too hard!

However, this was just a bluff on Wonder Woman's part as she wasn't knocked out, and as soon as Polybius approached her, she sprung to life and punched Polybius hard in the chest. This sent him flying several feet backwards, doing a 180 in the air and landing on his stomach.

As he flew, Polybius shot out his back tentacles but didn't do anything with them as he hit the ground. The went limp when he hit the ground, making it look like he had been knocked out, but that is exactly what he wanted her to think.

Walking up behind him, Polybius was quick to react. By using one of his shot out back tentacles, he quickly wrapped itself around her neck.

Using a great deal of force, Polybius began pulling her away from himself, allowing him to pick himself up.

When he did this, Wonder Woman tried to take a swing at him, but Polybius was able to lean back doge this rather easily. However, Polybius wasn't able to doge her second attack, which was an upwards kick that hit him right under his jaw. Despite getting hit in his night-night-button, Polybius managed to stay awake but lost his tentacle's grip on the Amazon. This allowed her to then quickly follow it up with a punch. This sent Polybius stumbling back, but he noticed that this hit was considerably weaker than what she had been hitting him with before.

However, this punch was the first of a barrage of them that Polybius took. He took every single punch until she hit him with one final massive hit that sent him flying into the park fence.

Despite this, the mutant Titan was still not down for the count. The mute teen then picked himself up, much to the amazement of Wonder Woman, and every other onlooker. However, Polybius noticed she was breathing heavily. This made Polybius think that she may be reaching her limit, while he had still felt like he could carry on this fight for even longer.

"You're… tougher… than… you… look." Wonder Woman managed out between breaths.

The mute Titan couldn't help but smile as he bit down on his taught to give himself a manual adrenaline boost.

Feeling a bit more refreshed after biting down hard on his tongue for a couple of seconds, Polybius began to move in on Wonder Woman. However, the heroine had different plans.

Again, she flew into him and took him by surprise and grabbed him by the beltline of his jeans. This time, however, she stayed on the ground and began to bash him into the ground repeatedly.

Knowing he needed to get out of her grip, Polybius again, went straight to desperate measures. Without even thinking, Polybius grabbed on to the strip of meat that sat over her breasts and pulled himself in.

Using his mouth and not his stomach, Polybsiu then bit Wonder Woman's upper arm and applied every ounce of pressure he could muster in his jaw.

The Amazon naturally let out a cry of pain. She tried to shake Polybius off of herself, however, his teeth, surprisingly sharp, held on, causing more flesh to get torn up in the process.

Finally, after ten seconds of struggling against the Titan, she managed to throw him off, but at a terrible price. Rather than Polybius let up on her, she instead caused Polybius to take a massive chunk of flesh with him when she threw him off of herself. Naturally, the Amazon let out another loud cry of pain as Polybius hit the ground.

As Polybius picked himself up, he looked back at the Amazon and paused. She was battered, bloodied and nearly beaten, with the hand that was on her okay arm, covering the massive hole he had just created in her other arm. This gave Polybius enough confidence that, while she was looking right at him, he spit that chunk of flesh in his mouth out right towards her feet.

Looking back up at the Amazon's face, mouth covered in blood, Polybius couldn't help but smile and silently laugh as he was having a really good time fighting her.

"What are you smiling and laughing for!?" Wonder Woman demanded.

With Polybius being mute and unable to respond, just stood up.

By this point in the fight, the mute Titan had forgotten that his original goal was to incapacitate the famous Wonder Woman. He now seemed more interested in seeing if he could bring her down.

The two combatants squared up again as Wonder Woman let go of the massive wound in her arm. It was clear to Polybius that she wished she had her lasso, but it was back at the Walmart. And it was also clear to Polybius that she knew she couldn't escape him unless he allowed it.

Thus, despite the massive amount of damage the Amazon had taken, she still had the will and determination to charge the mutant. However, her attacks were slower and weren't hitting as hard as they were back at the beginning of the fight.

This allowed Polybius to act with more impunity than he had earlier that day. Even going as far as to get behind the Amazon, grab her, and throw her headfirst into a nearby tree in the park. Polybius, also losing strength, didn't throw her as hard as he could have, hoping her weakened state would be enough to bring her down.

Yet this wasn't the case as she got right back up again and squared off with him.

Desperately looking for a way to fight Polybius, the Amazon took off her tiara and threw it at the mute Titan.

Rather than dodge this, Polybius used his back tentacles to catch it mid-air. Using two of his tentacles, and right in front of the Amazon, snapped the tiara in half. This caused the Amazon to go wide-eyed as the mutant threw the two halves on the ground.

This clearly gave the Amazon a huge surprise as she had never seen that ever happen. Her eyes went wide and jaw dropped as the two halves bounced on the ground. Shen then looked up at him, the shock still evident on her face.

"What kind of monster are you?" She asked him.

Polybius gave her a small smile before holding up one finger. To signify that he was one of a kind.

The mute Titan then launched his two back tentacles at the Amazon, expecting her to dodge them. When she didn't it surprised the mute Titan when he sent her flying back about a dozen feet.

Walking towards the downed heroine, Polybius stood over her and thought that this had to be it. The fight had to be over and he won.

Wrong!

Wonder Woman suddenly found her second wind and sprung back into action. She quickly launched herself upwards punching Polybius in the stomach. She hit the mute with so much force that it sent him flying out of the park and on top of a nearby apartment building.

The Amazon then followed him to the top of the building. However, just as her head was peaking over the top of the roof, Polybius used one of his tentacles like a pool stick shooting the cue ball, and the ball was her head. The attack hit Wonder Woman directly in the face and sent her flying back into the park.

Polybius was quick to follow her, using his tentacles to climb down the balconies and then rushed back into the park. There he found the Amazon struggling to pick herself up again, and the mute Titan decided to see if he could finish this with one of his most powerful moves.

Using four of his tentacles, Polybius turned so his right side was facing the downed Amazon. Sending his tentacles upwards and intertwining them along the way in one massive swirl, the mute Titan took aim.

Then with one of the most powerful forces he could muster, the mute Titan slammed the tower of tentacles directly down onto the struggling heroine. And while she did make an attempt to dodge the attack, only her upper body escaped the attack. Her legs meanwhile, got hit with one of the most powerful forces Polybius could muster. It was so powerful that it did indeed break both of her legs.

The Amazon let out another cry of pain as Polybius drew his tentacles back inside his body. The mute Titan was certainly impressed with what he had been seeing in his fight against her. He had also been having a lot of fun fighting her. However, it seemed like it was about to come to an end as he didn't think she could take any more.

Or so he thought.

In one last final attempt to bring Polybius down, Wonder Woman used her flight ability to launch herself one last time at the mutant. She crashed into him hard, sending his weakened body backwards, but not as far as she would have at the beginning of the fight.

However, in his weakened state, it was enough to send him flying back and land on his back. Trying to take advantage of this, the Amazon followed the mute Titan and got on top of him. She then mustered up the last of her strength and began punching him as hard as she could.

The Amazon got a solid two minutes of straight punching Polybius, and while they did hurt, she was far too weakened to deliver a knockout blow to him. And after it seemed that she had run out of steam. This allowed Polybius the opportunity he needed to launch his stomach at her.

Shooting his stomach out of his body, the Amazon barely reacted fast enough to dodge the attack aimed at her face. She pushed herself off of him and landed on her back.

Both combatants still determined to beat the other, attempted to pick themselves up. However, watching the two fight at this point was like watching two exhausted fat kids fight over the last scoop of ice cream.

The mute Titan rolled over and faced the Amazon. However, as he tried to pick himself up, the real extent of the beating she had just given him set in as he almost fell over trying to stand up.

Wonder Woman was in no better state however, as she was struggling to levitate herself off the ground to fight the Titan. This was due to both the massive amount of damage she had taken and the vast amount of blood she had lost.

However, both combatants did manage to pick themselves up and slowly made their way over to the other.

When the two made contact, neither one had the energy to attack the other. Rather, they both just grabbed onto the other and used the other as support. This lack of energy, however, did not stop them from trying to attack each other.

Wonder Woman threw whatever weak punches she could muster up, but due to a combination of blood loss, pain, and general exhaustion, they were more like that of a teddy bear's punches rather than the fearsome Wonder Woman's.

The mute Titan too tried to attack her, using his right hand and he tried to slap her. But rather than actually hurt her, his hand more just touched her face and moved her head a little as his hand just went downwards and slid off her face.

Despite this, neither side wanted to back down as they were both far too invested in the fight to actually realize that they couldn't bring the other down. And if some third party showed up at that moment, they had zero hopes in fighting it off.

Luckily for the two of them, that third party was the Teen Titans, who had a lot of information the two needed to know.

"Polybius!" The mute Titan heard Starfire shout.

Seconds after that, the alien girl came between the two and forced them to separate. And with both being so weakened, they both fell to the ground.

"Holy crap!" Beast Boy shouted as he came upon the scene.

Almost immediately after hitting the ground, Polybius had Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy by his side. His breathing was heavy and very labored. Wonder Woman meanwhile, was tended by Cyborg and Robin.

"Oh my gosh, Polybius!" Cyborg shouted as he came upon the barely conscious Amazon "What did you do to her!?"

Raven didn't waste any time quickly conjuring up a healing spell for the downed Titan. As she got to work with that, Cyborg began analyzing Wonder Woman.

"She's lost a lot of blood." Cyborg stated as he looked at his scanners "She's going to need a direct blood transfusion now if she's gonna live!"

"What's her blood type!?" Beast Boy demanded.

"O positive!" Cyborg stated.

The mute Titan then mustered the strength to snap his fingers, getting everybody's attention. He then unzipped his jacket and took out the arm closest to the fallen warrior and gave a thumbs up.

"No way!" Robin said "You're too hurt Polybius! You can't give her blood!"

"Actually, he's the only one here who can." Cyborg corrected "He's the only one with O positive blood."

"Isn't O positive the universal donor?" Beast Boy questioned.

"That's O negative." Raven corrected "And both O types can only take that kind of blood. Polybius here is the only one with O positive blood. He's the only one who can save her."

Everybody looked at Robin to okay the transfusion.

"Go ahead." Robin ordered "Raven, you had better keep him alive through this."

"I'm not going to let him die." Raven assured the team as she continued her magical healing spell.

Cyborg then opened a storage compartment in his chest and pulled out a direct transfusion kit. Quickly hooking the two up to each other, the teens watched as Polybius's blood began to go into Wonder Woman's body. All they could do was hope that her body wouldn't reject it.

**This one was a lot of fun to write. Anyway, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this massive fight between Polybius and Wonder Woman. I also hope that you have a good rest of your day!**


	13. Chapter 13: Explanation

_Chapter 13_

_Explanation..._

After night had fallen on Jump City, the two combatants, once hellbent on destroying the other, were safely back at Titans tower. From here, Polybius found himself confined to the medical bay, with only a curtain between himself and Wonder Woman.

At that moment in time, Raven was on watch, and currently meditating just beyond the curtain. Wonder Woman had fallen unconscious, leaving himself, in a way, alone.

And naturally, the mute Titan was paid a visit from his darker counterpart.

"Good evening Polybius!" Darkbius greeted as he approached the young Titan.

It was clear to Polybius at that moment in time that Raven could not hear, see or detect him as she just went on meditating.

"Boy oh, boy, look at you now." Darkbius started "Broken, bruised and battered. And all for what? To prove that you aren't Montezuma? Oh please, Montezuma looks like an angel compared to what you've done!"

As Polybius remained motionless on his bed and took the verbal beating from the dark Polybius, not too far away, just outside of the medical bay, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and Robin were gathered discussing what had happened.

"I think Polybius won." Beast Boy stated, "He totally kicked her butt."

"Nobody won." Robin quickly shut down "What happened was a serious case of misunderstanding."

"Yes." Starfire said "Although, I do hold the Woman of Wonder at fault for this. She really 'jumped the gun' yes?"

"She did." Cyborg agreed "However, now knowing why Montezuma hasn't appeared in Jump City, can any of us really say we wouldn't do the same thing?"

Nobody would answer that question, as Raven called over on her communicator that Wonder Woman was waking up.

"Come on y'all." Cyborg said, "We've got a story to tell."

The team then proceeded headed down to the medical bay. Once there, they found Raven tending Wonder Woman.

"What happened?" Wonder Woman asked.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Raven asked.

"When that monster took this chunk out of my arm." Wonder Woman explained, "After that, it's all just a blur."

"Well, maybe we can fill in the gaps for everybody." Robin said as the team entered the room.

"Gaps?" Diana asked, "Your friend Polybius attacked Paradise Island, killed one of my sisters and kidnapped another, leaving the island in ruins on their way out."

"That wasn't him." Robin stated.

"That's a lie." Wonder Woman spat "His face matches that of the face of the invaders."

"Look, if you'll please let us explain, we'll fill you in on not only what we think actually happened, but also why it would have been physically impossible for Polybius to do that at the time it happened." Cyborg said.

Wonder Woman didn't respond as Starfire walked around the curtain to see the mute Titan looking out the window.

"Polybius?" Starfire questioned as she approached him.

At that moment, where Darkbius had once been standing, now stood Starfire. She looked at him with a worried face.

"He is awake." Starfire called over to the other side.

"Good." Robin said, "Then we'll only need to explain this once."

Starfire then drew back the curtain and Wonder Woman locked eyes on Polybius.

"You!" She spat angrily, but still too weak to make a serious effort to attack him.

"Stop!" Starfire said putting herself between the two "You must listen to what we have to say before you can do anything else!"

The Amazon, knowing she was too weak to try and fight off the team, held back and rested in her bed.

"So enlightened me." Wonder Woman ordered.

"Well-" Robin started before getting cut off by Raven.

"Wait." The half-demon girl said picking up the lasso of truth "Hold this so she knows you're telling the truth."

"Good idea." Robin said as every member of the Titans except Polybius took hold of the lasso.

Wonder Woman looked up at the team of young heroes.

"Alright." Robin started "So where should we start."

"Wherever you like." Wonder Woman said.

"Alright." Robin said, "I guess I'll start from the first time we encountered Montezuma."

"Alright." Wonder Woman said, "Start there."

Robin then began to explain "So when we first met the Aztec warrior, it was just myself and Polybius facing off against him. He thrashed us hard, stole a bunch of gold, and then disappeared for a while before suddenly showing up again at the museum and stole Aztec artifacts. That time, however, only Polybius fought him and as soon as we showed up, he vanished."

"That doesn't tell me much." Wonder Woman commented.

"Well you see, the thing is, nobody has seen him since that day." Robin went on "That was the last time we saw Montezuma, and that was well over 5 months ago."

"So?" Wonder Woman said, "Seems like deception to me."

"Well, it's not." Cyborg began "Because that night Paradise Island was attacked, our biggest threat, Slade, had launched a plan to make Robin his apprentice. And with the time frame, we've gotten by talking to the Justice League, Polybius was with us the entire time Paradise Island was being attacked. And it was the real Polybius because Slade had used infected us with nanoprobes, so with the push of a button, he could take us all out."

"However!" Starfire quickly piped up "We discovered Slade's plan, and in the end, it ended up with Robin infecting himself with the probes."

"And all of this was going on while your home was being attacked." Raven added.

"Okay." Wonder Woman said, starting to connect the dots in her head "But that still doesn't rule out things like magic."

"As of right now, Polybius has never displayed any magical abilities." Cyborg stated, "And Raven, who is our magic expert, says he doesn't have any magical abilities, right?"

"Correct." Raven confirmed, "Therefore, it would have been impossible for Polybius to attack your home at that moment in time."

"Not to mention that Polybius and Montezuma are two different people." Beast Boy added.

"So then why did all of the people who attacked Themyscira look very similar to him?" Wonder Woman added.

"As of right now, we have no reason to believe that Montezuma does NOT possess magical capabilities." Raven said "It is entirely possible that he used some sort of spell, or has a magical ally, that made him and his horde look like Polybius to throw you off of his trail. However, from the details we have about the attack on your home, we now believe that either he or an ally of his does possess magical capabilities."

Wonder Woman went wide-eyed as she connected the last of the dots. She had been fooled hard.

"By the gods…" Wonder Woman said as she put both hands on her head.

"Yeah." Beast Boy said, "You got played hard."

Cyborg smacked Beast Boy in the back of his head.

"How could this happen?" Wonder Woman asked herself.

"It is not your fault." Starfire assured her "If it had been any of us in that same situation, we too would have likely acted in the same way you did."

Meanwhile, back at Montezuma's residence, the warrior in question picked up a cigarette and began smoking hard.

"Montezuma!" The voice of the Sun God called out.

"Man, I thought you said you had taken care of Wonder Woman!?" Montezuma demanded.

"I did." The voice stated, "She's not on your trail, rather, she's been thrown off of it hunting Polybius for the past four months."

"Oh goodness." Montezuma said "But wouldn't her now discovering that Polybius was not behind the attacks, put her on my trail. Especially now that she has fought Polybius."

"Yes and no." The voice bellowed "Quite frankly, for the plan, it no longer matters what they do. Whether or not they fight each other is irrelevant. With you having been off the grid for months, the idea is that she'll restart her search. Most likely heading back to Mexico City."

"But Polybius will stay here." Montezuma pointed out.

"And do what?" The voice bellowed "Stay on your trail? Bah! He can't find your trail!"

"I hope you're right." Montezuma said as he finished his cigarette.

"Also, since when did you pick up smoking?" The voice asked.

"Not long after you told me to roll back on Cortés." Montezuma said.

"Well, you can't kill them yet!" The voice bellowed.

"Why not?" Montezuma questioned, "It's been four months and I'm dying to finally send her soul up to you."

"All in good time." The voice bellowed "But you can't repeatedly beat her to the point of near-death, cause you keep risking her dying. And if she dies before I tell you you can sacrifice her, then you are going to get punished.

"Got it." Montezuma said.

"That being said, however!" The voice suddenly perked up "I still want your long, daily, torture sessions to get more intense, at least verbally. You've been too quiet lately. She needs to hear your voice to keep up that impending sense of doom."

"You got it." Montezuma said.

"In fact, why don't you go pay her a visit right now." The voice stated "You don't have to really do anything, as torturing her is all I've been having you do all day every day since you kidnapped her. But still, I think a nice talk between you and them would really help instill the fear we're trying to build."

"Whatever you say." Montezuma stated.

"One more thing!" The voice bellowed out "Use this."

On the counter in front of Montezuma, suddenly appeared the two halves of Wonder Woman's broken tiara.

Down in the basement, Donna laid on her back, her knees tucked into her chest and her arms cramped up by her head inside her small dog cage. Montezuma had long ago stripped her of her clothing, leaving her defenseless in the cold basement. She also bore many barks from beatings, cuttings, burnings, and a multitude of other wounds.

At that moment in time, Donna was exhausted and was broken. She had made a few escape attempts when it seemed like Montezuma had let his guard down. However, every time she tried, she failed miserably and paid for it dearly. In fact, to prevent her from escaping, Montezuma broke her legs in multiple places and then didn't treat them so they would heal improperly.

The light in the basement flickered on and Donna felt a wave of fear overcome her. She had already taken her fair share of torture today, what else could this man want.

"Wake up!" Montezuma shouted as he shook her cage.

Donna just let out a groan in pain and didn't open her eyes.

Then without warning, she suddenly felt a bucket of cold water splash on her face, jolting her awake.

"Good." Montezuma said as the two made eye contact "Listen up Cortés. I want to tell you something that I think you should know."

Donna looked up at him.

"Your sister Diana came by today." Montezuma said, "I must say, her attempt at rescuing you was valiant, but she's now dead."

To prove his point, Montezuma held up the broken tiara for Donna to see. The poor girl felt a wave of sadness wash over her as tears began to form up in her eyes.

"And you know, with your people being so afraid of everything, I don't really think you have anything to look forward to besides your soon death!"

The Aztec then stabbed the girl with one of his electro sticks. This sent a shock wave of pain through the poor girl's body.

"So I suggest you give up all hope of being rescued." Montezuma said, "But don't worry Cortés, we still have a lot more fun to go through!"

With that, Montezuma hit the Amazon with his electro staff one last time before leaving the room, turning the lights off behind him.

Donna began to cry silently to herself. With Wonder Woman dead, and the evidence right in front of her, the teen girl was sure that there was now no one on their way to save her. She was going to die cold, alone, and scared.

Meanwhile, back at Titan's Tower, a few days had passed since the fight. Wonder Woman hadn't spoken to Polybius, and Polybius had made no attempts to communicate with her. This wasn't helped when the mute Titan was released earlier than she was on the lone fact that he hadn't broken any bones in the fight. And while he had been severely battered, Raven's powers made both his and Diana's recoveries a lot quicker. This allowed both of them to get back to work quite rapidly.

That being said, however, the anger that had existed between the two had vanished, and Polybius was just waiting for an apology.

Which he got once she was finally released from the medical bay. The Amazon was told that Polybius was in his room working on the Montezuma case. And when she got there, she found him in his swivel chair looking over an article. She requested permission to enter and Polybius offered her his rocking chair by his window.

"And again, I can't express with words how sorry I am for what happened." Wonder Woman finished.

She waited for him to say something, however, when he didn't she got confused.

"Why are you not saying anything?" She asked.

"Because he can't." Robin stated as he entered Polybius's room where the two were.

The mute Titan had left his door open because it had yet to be replaced since the Titans had busted it down, and he had plastic over his window as well. Neither one was going to get fixed until the following week.

"What do you mean he can't?" Wonder Woman asked.

"He's mute." Robin explained.

"Mute!?" Wonder Woman said surprised "That does explain how you resisted the lasso's power. You can't tell me anything if you can speak."

Polybius then pulled out his notebook and pen and held it up.

"What's that?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Aside from hand and body signals, writing things down is his primary way of communicating with us." Robin went on "And if he has something important to get across quickly, he will snap his fingers."

Polybius nodded as he opened up his notebook and wrote something down. He then handed it off to the Amazon heroine.

"You… forgive me?" She questioned "Like that? After everything that happened?"

"That's how he is." Robin stated "It's not like Polybius to not forgive people. And considering the circumstances, it'd be hard not to forgive you."

Polybius nodded in agreement.

"That is, quite honorable of you." Wonder Woman commented.

"Well, it is easy since I don't think he was ever mad at you." Robin added.

"Why's that?" Diana questioned.

"Well, at the very end of the fight, when Starfire came and broke you two up, with all of the damage Polybius had done to you, you needed a lot of blood. And with you being O positive, none of us could give to you except Polybius, who didn't even hesitate to whip his arm out and offer blood. By doing this he effectively saved your life even though, as he has explained to us, he thought you were trying to kill him."

Polybius nodded his confirmation and Wonder Woman went wide-eyed as she looked at the young, mute Titan sitting in his computer chair. It was clear that his actions baffled her as she had met few people who were willing to do that for somebody who they thought was trying to kill them.

"Thank you." Diana said humbly "I envy your honor and self-sacrifice."

The mute Titan smiled warmly. He then wrote down something in his notebook and passed it to her.

"So you are proposing we work together on this Montezuma case?" Wonder Woman questioned, to which the mute nodded "I'm not sure. I'd rather take this by myself."

"Actually, you two working together might bring down Montezuma faster." Robin stated "At first, both he and I worked on this case, splitting the work. However, when Slade showed up, I put him in charge of the Montezuma case. He knows more about this than anybody else, and I think that if you two work together, it may bring him down faster."

"How so?" Wonder Woman questioned.

"With Polybius being a part of our team, he is sort of tied down here mostly. However, with you being in the Justice League, you are afforded more autonomy and are able to get away easier. This would allow you to search elsewhere while Polybius stays here. After all, Jump City is where Montezuma has had the most activity. But the Aztec empire was historically located in Mexico."

"I see." Wonder Woman said, "When you put it that way, it would make sense for us to work together."

Polybius smiled as he pulled out his cell phone. The two traded numbers and Robin let the two of them get to work.

After explaining everything he knew about Montezuma to her, the two began to discuss courses of action to take.

"So the locations you want me to head to are Mexico City, specifically the ruins of the pyramids as well as a handful of other Aztec ruins in Mexico, and then also to travel to Spain to visit this Hernán Cortés's home."

Polybius nodded.

"Why his home?" Diana asked, "I don't see how there could be much use there."

The mute Titan would then go on to explain over text that if Montezuma believed that Donna was one of his descendants, then there may be something he would target there. What, Polybius couldn't answer.

"I see." Diana said, "Hopefully one of these locations will yield something."

With that, the two-headed up to the roof. Diana wanted to waste no time in searching for the Aztec warrior, so she was eager to leave.

As the two stood up on the roof, they were followed by the Titans. However, before she took off, she turned back to Polybius and offered a hand.

"Again, sorry about jumping the gun." Diana again apologized.

Polybius smiled and took the Amazon's hand. However, as they were shaking hands, a flash from a nearby cell phone camera caught their attention. They both looked over to see it was Beast Boy who had taken the photo.

"Oh, man!" Beast Boy said, "This is gonna get so many upvotes and likes!"

The two glanced back at each other before all eyes set on Beast Boy. This caused the green Titan to laugh nervously before explaining that he was an administrator on all of the Titan's 'official' social media pages, and was trying to grow them.

Polybius let out a silent chuckle when Raven slapped the teen upside the head.

Turning back to Wonder Woman, she was looking out at the city.

"I pray to the gods that Donna is okay." Wonder Woman said.

"Don't worry." Robin said, walking up by Polybius's side "If she's here, we'll find her."

"Yeah!" Cyborg agreed "You've got one of the best teams leading the charge here."

"Lead by the toughest one!" Starfire added.

"And nothing will stop us from bringing Montezuma down." Raven threw in.

"We'll bring him down!" Beast Boy finished.

The famous heroine then chuckled seeing the team so determined and confident.

"You kids are alright." She stated.

With that, the Amazonian heroine then took off for Mexico City to begin her part in the search for Montezuma.

**And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	14. Chapter 14: Terra and Tears

_Chapter 14_

_Terra and Tears..._

Polybius couldn't help but be bothered by Starfire's findings. Even though it had been two weeks ago since she had her little trip to the future, the fact that the only Titan she didn't encounter, or even heard anything about, was himself. It may have been because he was off in Gotham or Rome. But the fact that he never once came up in her story, did concern him.

But not as much as the hunt for Montezuma. With it having been now over two months since Polybius and Wonder Woman joined forces to bring down the Aztec, neither one had figured anything out. Again, there were no clues, no signs, no evidence. And with the rise of new evils, as much as neither one wanted to do it, they collectively had to put Montezuma on the back burner. There was just simply no trace or evidence of him anywhere.

However, a week after Beast Boy was temporarily made some big space rock guy's pet for about eight hours, the Titan responded to a call about a giant scorpion in the desert. This lead the Titans to find the monster chasing a small young girl, likely about Beast Boy's age, through the desert.

When the girl came to the end of the trial however, she turned on the overgrown insect.

Suddenly taking control of the small land bridge Polybius was standing on, the mute Titan quickly jumped off of it as she dropped it on the scorpion, killing it almost instantly.

The young girl then used her powers to create a rock column that raised her up to the top of the cliff where all of the Titans were standing in awe.

"What?" She asked the group "You guys never seen a superhero before?"

Following a short conversation between Terra and the team, it was collectively decided by Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy that she should spend some time with them in the tower. She agreed and as those four took off, Robin, Polybius, and Raven lagged behind.

Once in the tower, Terra quickly made herself at home. She ate Starfire's cooking, which by that point in time, Polybius was the only one brave enough to do so. Of course, the other Titans didn't believe him as he never ate it in front of them and accused him of throwing it away while she wasn't looking. Yet because of how Polybius digested food, he didn't taste anything, therefore, while the other Titans complained about the taste of the food, it didn't bother him in the slightest.

Terra also took a mud bath while in the tower. Which when Polybius saw the state of the bathroom once she was done about had a heart attack as it was his week to clean it. She also did her laundry in the sink, which was weird to the others, but not Polybius. Once she hung them up on a line, she took out her iPhone, put in some AirPods, and passed out on the couch in her white bathrobe.

With her seemingly passed out, the Titans began discussing her. Specifically, adding her to the team.

Raven was against adding her to their roster as she didn't like change or people. And while Polybius was in the same boat in her in that sense, unlike her, however, he was very open to change and backed the others in giving her a chance.

With that put in place, Polybius headed into his room and headed over to his window. Looking out, Polybius saw the watery horizon, but his eyes drifted away to the right. There, he laid eyes on Jump City, specifically a suburbanized area of the city. Ironically, that area was also where the fire monster Slade had created when Thunder and Lighting had their 'fun.'

His eyes then drifted back a little bit further to the forest behind it. Out of all of the biomes that the world had to offer, the forest is where he felt most comfortable. It was his favorite biome and recently, he had wanted to take a walk through one again.

But what the mute Titan didn't realize, that in that little suburban division, staring right back at him, was Montezuma.

The Aztec warrior had paused from torturing Donna for lunch. It had also been a while since he had last heard from the Sun God.

To put it bluntly, he was getting quite tired of torturing the girl. Every day he would try to do something different but had run out of ideas long ago. The only thing he had left to do rape her, but he had been forbidden from doing that. As much as he wanted to violate Hernán Cortés for raping his women, he refrained from doing so.

"Montezuma!" The voice called out.

"Yes?" The Aztec questioned.

"Isn't your birthday today?" The voice questioned.

"It is." Montezuma said, "What about it?"

"Well, that, combined with all of the hard and good work you have been doing, I want to reward you for your hard efforts." The voice stated.

"Oh!?" The Aztec sounded surprised.

"Yes." The voice bellowed "I got your reservations at your favorite food place!"

"Applebees!?" Montezuma said with excitement in his voice.

"Yeah!" The voice sounded "8 PM, you had better be at Applebees, the one over on Market Street."

"I will be there!" Montezuma said happily.

"Yes, yes." The voice went on "Just keep up the hard work."

"For Applebees, I won't take out the trash! I will eat the trash!" Montezuma declared.

There was a moment of silence before the Sun God spoke again.

"Okay…" The voice said unsure of that statement.

But what neither of them realized is back at Titan's tower, Robin was saying the same thing to Terra.

"You see." Robin started looking at Beast Boy as the team headed to the combat field "Getting Beast Boy over there to just take out the trash can be a real pain sometimes."

"Hey!" Beast Boy shouted as Terra giggled.

"On the other hand though, we've got Polybius." Robin said, "He's never got to be asked to do his weekly tasks."

"Yeah!" Cyborg agreed "With him, for us at least, he'd eat that trash."

"No way." Terra said as she giggled.

"Way!" Beast Boy assured, "Polybius is like the cleanest person in the tower."

"Is he?" Terra asked.

"Yep!" Beast Boy said.

"Of course, he wasn't appreciative of your little mud bath." Raven added, "It's his week to clean the bathrooms."

Terra then looked over at the mute Titan, who was working on the control panel, getting the course ready.

"Oh my gosh, Polybius! I'm so sorry!" Terra quickly apologized.

"It's fine." Robin stated, "Polybius is also the most forgiving Titan among us."

"After seeing the clips from his fight with Wonder Woman, and then seeing him turn around and forgive her, I'd believe that." Terra said.

It still amazed Polybius that at no point in that fight, despite him using it twice, was there any footage of his stomach rising out of his body.

"Yeah." Beast Boy said, "That picture I shared online has got like, billions of likes, retweets, upvotes, and everything else total!"

"Wow." Terra said, "I didn't know you were on those pages."

"I'm an administrator baby." Beast Boy slyly said.

Terra giggled as Raven rolled her eyes.

"Alright, Cy, want to go first?" Robin offered.

"You bet!" Cyborg said as he quickly hopped down.

As Cyborg headed down and began the course, Beast Boy kept his conversation with Terra going.

"I still can't believe he held his own against Wonder Woman." Terra commented, "All on his own too."

"Yeah, he's by far, the most, uh, what's the word?" Beast Boy asked.

"Malleable." Raven finished.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said "He's the toughest guy on our team. He can take one heck of a beating and still keep going."

"I bet." Terra said.

"And the best part is, nothing breaks him!" Starfire added.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Terra asked.

Polybius continued to watch Cyborg as Starfire got close and whispered in Terra's ear.

"He is also the cutest Titan too." Starfire commented.

"Well yeah!" Terra said quite loudly "He is consistently ranked as one of the hottest and cutest guys alive!"

Polybius slammed his fist down into the control table hard and glared down at the three.

Starfire and Beast Boy both nervously giggle while Terra just looked up at him confused.

"What?" Terra asked, "It's a compliment."

The mute Titan then threw both of his hands up in the air and stormed away.

"Did I say something?" Terra asked.

"You called him cute." Raven said coldly.

"So?" Terra asked.

"Polybius doesn't like being called that." Robin said.

"Really?" Terra asked, still confused.

"Yes." Starfire said, "Polybius does not like being complimented on his looks."

"Why?" Terra asked.

"It doesn't matter why." Raven spat "All that matters is that he doesn't like it, so don't call him that."

Terra was still confused, but Beast Boy put a hand on her shoulder and calmly explained it.

"We don't know why." Beast Boy stated "All we know is that he gets really angry when girls flirt with him. Or when anybody comments on him on how he looks. Or sex in general."

"Oh." Terra said, with a sudden sense of clarity of the mistake she had just unknowingly made.

"What's weird about it, is he'll lowkey joke about it." Beast Boy went on "But when things get serious, that's when he gets mad."

"Weird." Terra commented.

"YO!" Cyborg shouted, "Where're the obstacles!?"

Robin quickly hopped on the control panel and let Cyborg finish the course.

"Boyah! New course record!" Cyborg shouted in victory.

"Well yeah, you're the first one to do the course." Raven commented, killing Cyborg's mood.

"Hey, where's Polybius?" Cyborg asked as he noticed the missing Titan.

"Oh, Terra tried to compliment him and he stormed off." Beast Boy said.

"What'd she say?" Cyborg asked.

"She complimented him on his looks." Raven said.

"Oh." Cyborg said.

"He's not going to hate me for that, right?" Terra asked.

"Polybius? Hate?" Cyborg questioned "I didn't know that name and that word could go in the same sentence. Dude is the most forgiving person I have ever met! I'm sure if you give it some time, he'll forgive you for it."

"Really?" Terra asked.

"If he didn't, I'd say we would have a phony with us." Cyborg stated confidently.

"Oh thank goodness." Terra said with relief.

Meanwhile, back up in his room, Polybius sat down at his computer and began seeing if Terra's statement was true.

Sure enough, with a quick Google search, he found several lists ranking celebrity males by how attractive they were to women.

'Hottest teen males.' 'Hottest male superheroes.' 'Most attractive males.' 'Top Ten most attractive men.' 'All-time hottest men.' 'Men who make women wet just walking by.' 'Men we all want.' 'Men we all want to smash.' 'Hottest men to ever live.'

The more Polybius dug into this, both the more ridiculous titles he found, and consistencies. Anything newer than when the Titans had formed 11 months ago, he was consistently ranked towards, if not at the top every time.

After digging through lists for a solid half an hour, the teen finally had enough. Seeing himself in the number one spot with a picture of him, he took off his hat and put both hands on his face.

"I told you!" The voice of Darkbius began "People look at you for nothing more than your looks. Nobody cares about your person. Well, except for one person."

Meanwhile, back down on the practice field, the Titans wrapped up their training session.

"Hold on." Cyborg said, "Doesn't Polybius have to go?"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said, "And we throw a dozen extra things at him!"

During combat practice, whenever Polybius had to run a course or do something, it had become commonplace to throw extra things at him. Ever since his first day of formal team training, it had practically become a tradition for the Titans to throw extra things at Polybius as he trained. This meant while Polybius held no course records, he was arguably, the best trained out of all of the Titans.

"I think we're going to give Polybius this day off." Robin said, "Besides, we all know he can hold himself."

"Aw, man." Cyborg said, "And to think, I built that giant robot monster all for him!"

"Do not despair friend!" Starfire assured him "There is always tomorrow!"

"Yeah." Cyborg agreed "Seeing him wreck that thing will be fun to watch."

As the Titans headed inside, Raven broke off from the main group and headed straight to her room while the others made their way to the main room.

As she walked down the hall and turning a corner, she bumped into Polybius, who was walking at a rather fast pace.

This caused the two to stumble backwards and for Raven to fall over, letting out a small "Oof." as she hit the ground.

While Polybius didn't fall over, he looked down at the girl and she looked up at him.

"Sorry." The girl apologized.

Making eye contact with the mute Titan, she could see pain in his eyes. This caught her off guard as she had never seen him like that before, and it scared her.

"Polybius?" Raven asked in a more compassionate tone than her usual monotone.

The mute Titan quickly pushed past her and power walked down the hall. Raven only watched as Polybius went straight for the elevator. He kept his head hung low and tried his best to hide his face, as he had been doing before the two had bumped into each other.

"Polybius wait!" Raven called out as she quickly flew over to him.

The mute Titan didn't stop as he quickly hopped in the elevator, the door closing just before Raven could get inside with him.

As the door shut in her face, Raven returned to the ground and stood in a mild state of shock. She had seen him get angry about being called cute, hot, and even sexy before, but never this. Never before had she seen him look like he was on the verge of breaking down.

Quickly deciding to follow the Titan, Raven made a quick dash for the stairs. However, once she got to the bottom, she could not find Polybius anywhere inside.

Moving outside, the first place she looked at was The Garden of Eden. However, the mute Titan was nowhere to be found on the island.

After conducting a thorough search of the island, Raven began to think about where the Titan could have gone? And what could have possibly caused him to break down like that?

A thought then crossed Raven's mind. It definitely had to do with something Terra said. It was her fault that her friend was hurting! It was her fault! Even though she didn't know, somebody should have stopped her. She herself should have stopped her!

Looking back at the tower, up towards the main room, Raven decided not to get the other Titans involved in this. Rather, she decided to handle this alone. She then pulled out her communicator and tried to see if she could find him on the tracker, but its beacon was coming from inside his room. So too was the one Cyborg had put on the Titan's phone.

Quickly flying off the island, Raven began searching Jump City in every possible location she could think of. The mall, the tactical store, the zoo, the baseball stadium, the pizza place, everywhere. Yet in all of the locations, there was no sign of him.

After passing by the Applebees on Market Street, by this point in time, the sun had gone down, and it was almost 8 PM.

Raven took a seat on the bench in front of the restaurant and looked at the ground. The female Titan was wracking her brain as to where the mute could be. She cursed her inability to sense him.

And she wasn't the only one cursing things.

Montezuma, who was in the parking lot of the Applebees, eyes locked on the girl.

"Uh… am I supposed to do something about this?" Montezuma asked, "I really want my Applebees."

"Uh… She's not supposed to be here." The voice stated "That's alright, we'll just, uh… here!"

Suddenly, a surgical mask appeared on the car in front of Montezuma.

"What am I going to do with this?" Montezuma questioned.

"Just put it on your face!" The voice ordered, "And if she asks you about it, just say that you're trying not to catch Kung Flu."

"Kung Flu?" Montezuma questioned, thinking about it for a long moment "You mean the Coronavirus?"

"Yeah! The corn virus!" The Sun God quickly agreed "Just take it off once you get inside. She'll never suspect a thing!"

"Whatever you say." Montezuma said putting the mask on.

The Aztec, who was wearing civilian clothing, walked right past Raven, getting within a few feet of her. However, she never even looked up at him, instead just looking at the ground.

Once inside, he took the mask off and stuffed it in his pocket.

"That was close." Montezuma commented.

Back outside, Raven began looking up at the moon. However, she was brought out of her thoughts when her crime alert went off.

"Slade." Was all she needed to hear to jump into action, hoping to find Polybius.

But she wouldn't.

Rather, way out in the forest, far away from the mine that was under attack, was Polybius. He was sitting under a tree looking out at the endless forest, trying to find some comfort in the familiar environment.

He wasn't.

"Look at you." Darkbius said walking up to him from behind the tree Polybius was leaning up against "You miserable sucker. Sitting out here all alone, with no one to turn to but me."

The darker Polybius stood in front of the sitting one. He looked down on the mute Titan and shook his head.

"Oh well, that's nothing new." Darkbius said "Like your friends were real anyways. Raven, Starfire, and soon to be Terra, only see you for your pretty face, and sexy body. Too bad you can't even satisfy them, dickless!"

Polybius buried his head in his knees.

"Oh, what about the guys?" The dark Polybius questioned "Well for starters, Cyborg lies to you! You and I both know he doesn't care about you, and based on recent experiences, only uses you! Why he used you to go on that little car ride. And based on the way he was talking to you, it sure sounded like you weren't his first pick to go. He probably wanted to go with Robin, who knows far more about that stuff than you. And we both know Beast Boy is his best friend. He's closer to Starfire would have been a better passenger than you because at least she could talk. Why I bet he even went to Raven before he came to you! It sure did sound like you were his last hope for going."

The mute Titan felt tears begin to form in his eyes as Darkbius went on.

"Beast Boy?" Darkbius asked "Face it. He only uses you! How many times have you done his chores for him? Countless! And how many times has he thanked you? Not even once! He doesn't care about you, he just sees you as a tool."

Darkbius began to smile as he looked down at the suffering Polybius.

"And Robin…" Darkbius stated "You know, it seems that he is a good liar. Making you think you're capable, pushing you up, even though he knows you're not. Saying one thing to your face, and then deceiving you behind your back. Honestly, it wouldn't be that far of a stretch to say that he only looks at you for your tactical ability in the field. And once he figures out your mastery of stealth, you'll be going on undercover missions all the time. So that way he has an excuse to keep your unlikable butt away!"

The dark Polybius then chuckled.

"But you know, there is one person who will always care for you." He said, "You really should go back to them."

The mute Titan shook his head.

"Why not?" Darkbius asked "They cared for you! They gave you everything and you just walked away from them! You left after everything they did for you! Yet cause you thought things could get even better, you left!"

There was a moment of pause to let the mute Titan ponder the question, tears now streaming down his face.

"Is it going the way you thought it would?" Darkbius asked squatting down in front of him "I bet it is."

**And there you have it! Chapter 14 of The Terror of Silence! I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	15. Chapter 15: Eye Candy

_Chapter 15_

_Eye Candy..._

"Where's Polybius?" Cyborg asked as the team exited the mine.

"He covered the entrance." Raven quickly lied.

"And he didn't hop down inside with the rest of us?" Beast Boy questioned "Lame."

"Lay off him." Raven quickly spat.

"Alright, geez." Beast Boy said, "What's your problem?"

"I'll tell ya what her problem is." Cyborg said before Raven could answer "She's afraid Terra gonna win over Polybius."

"I'm not!" Raven quickly shouted as the two as they began to laugh "It's more serious than that!"

"Yeah, seriously a threat!" Cyborg added.

Raven let out an angry grunt before quickly flying away, leaving the two laughing as they headed back to the tower.

Raven quickly began resuming her search for Polybius, this time, heading outside of the city to see if she could find him out there. And while it took two hours, she spotted a lone man, dressed in all black, crawled up against a tree, head in his knees.

"Polybius!" Raven called out immediately spotting him.

Polybius looked up briefly to see that Darkbius had gone and was now replaced by the rapidly approaching Raven.

While Polybius only peaked up for a split second, it did allow Raven to see the tear lines on his face, indicating to her that he had been crying.

The mute Titan quickly got up and began to move away, but Raven chased after him. She used her powers to stop as he tried to hide his face from her.

"Polybius stop!" Raven ordered, "What's wrong?! Why are you crying?"

While it was uncharacteristic of Raven to get involved in other people's business, she couldn't walk away from this. Her friend was hurting a lot worse than she had previously thought, and whatever it was, she needed to get to the bottom of it.

However, as she placed a hand on his shoulder, something that she couldn't detect appeared.

"Oh look!" Darkbius said "The most detached Titan is going to comfort you! This'll be fun to tear apart!"

As Polybius turned and faced Raven, he made an effort to hide his face using his hands and hat.

"Polybius, what's wrong?" Raven asked again "I know I may not be the best person to talk to, but at least let me know something."

Raven then pulled out Polybius's notebook that he kept in his coat at all times. She then held it up for him and insisted he write something.

"Come on." Raven persisted "I can't walk away from this. What's wrong?"

Polybius lowered his hands. However, instead of taking the notebook, he instead pushed Raven away. Not hard, but enough to knock her off her feet. Once she landed on the ground, Polybius turned away and looked up, but he did not run away.

"Polybius?" Raven asked.

"She sees you as nothing more than eye candy!" Darkbius stated "Don't tell her anything! Keep pushing her away! Hell, even run away! Terra would make a good replacement!"

The mute Titan moved to a tree and put his back to it. Now facing Raven, he slid down the tree into the same position he was before.

Raven then slowly approached the mute Titan, who had taken up the fetal position and tucked his head in his knees again. She then took a seat next to him, notebook in hand and, despite her normal character, put her arm around him in an attempt to comfort him.

However, unknown to Raven, Darkbius also took a seat on the other side of Polybius. He was ready to do whatever damage he could to Polybius and see just how far he could break him and achieve his goal.

Raven began rubbing his back as Polybius began to silently cry again. She had no idea how to really comfort him but was committed to doing her best. She decided that right now, the best thing to do was sit there with him, and let him cry it out.

"Aw come on Polybius!" Darkbius said "Men aren't supposed to cry! Especially in front of women! All you do is look weak! But then again, that's exactly what you are!"

After a while, Raven tried to offer the notebook to Polybius. Which this time, he did take. He began writing things down but stopped halfway.

"Don't tell her." Darkbius insisted "All she's going to do is take this knowledge and hurt you with it!"

Raven didn't say anything as she waited for Polybius to continue. And after what felt like an entity, the mute Titan did begin to write again and handed it off to her. Raven quickly read on the page and felt her heart sink as she read the question.

"No Polybius." Raven answered, "We don't see you as eye candy."

"Liar, liar, cloak on fire!" Darkbius stated "Remember Aqualad's cave? When she and Starfire were discussing who they thought was cuter? And they both chose you!"

The mute Titan shook his head as she handed the notebook back to him. He was quick to write down a counter. He handed it back to Raven and she quickly read it.

At first, she was speechless. Her mind had a flashback to the cave where indeed she and Starfire were talking about that. However, they were doing it behind a rock in an attempt to not be heard by Polybius. She had no idea that he had heard it and was feeling upset about it this whole time.

However, it all suddenly made sense to her. When Terra began talking about his ranking, she was almost positive that what he did was go up to his room and search online either on his phone or on his laptop. And Raven knew exactly what he found because just last month, Beast Boy had done the same thing in a false hope to prove a point. But rather than finding himself on any of the lists, he consistently found Polybius near if not at the top every time.

Raven then knew what the mute Titan was thinking. With every female he had ever met calling him sexy, he had to be thinking that she, and every other female, only saw him as eye candy. And with what he just saw online, it would seem that way to him.

That made Raven wonder if he had also seen the memes.

After Beast Boy posted the image of him and Wonder Woman shaking hands, it wasn't long after that on Reddit, a new meme started. The hottest woman meets the hottest man meme. It blew up and across the internet, people did photoshop of the two shaking hands and adding in all sorts of texts. But the original concept was still the same. And many people stayed true to the hottest meets hottest part.

After thinking it over, Raven decided to approach the situation in an attempt to ease his mind.

"Okay, so it is true." Raven said "I did say that. But it's not what's on the outside that matters. Physical appearance can't make up for a poor character. I mean look at Justin Bieber. He's not an ugly looking guy, but most people would agree that he has a very poor character. You, however, you don't."

The mute Titan wasn't really following what the girl was saying.

"And you are not the only one who has to deal with that." Raven added "Both me and Starfire go through it quite a bit too. Albeit not as much as I've seen you go through it. Guys love to look at us as nothing more than eye candy. Talking about how they want to smash us. I get what you're saying. You want people to see you for who you are, not what you look like."

For the first time since they started talking, Polybius turned his head and looked at Raven. She could see the tear streams on his face, but there was also a small, but characteristically warm smile on his face.

"No!" Darkbius shouted "She lies! Don't listen to her!"

His words fell on deaf ears as Raven returned his smile. The two shared a warm moment before Raven went on.

"Look, you and I both know that we can't stop people from calling you cute. And that you can' t express that you don't like to be called that without people giving you the time to respond. And even then, people have to read your words. But you know as well as I do that your friends see you as more than what you look like. We see you as Polybius! Not as some cute guy we wanna bang."

Polybius's smile grew even larger and warmer.

"Come on." Raven said "Let's get back to the tower. Terra has already been told not to call you cute, hot, sexy, or anything else along those lines again."

The mute Titan stood up and wiped his face clean of tears with his jacket. As he did this, he took a quick glance down to where Darkbius had been to see that he wasn't there.

"Why don't we walk." Raven offered, to which Polybius nodded.

The two began walking back to the tower in relative silence. It wasn't long until they came upon the suburban district that Polybius was able to see from his window.

However, as the two passed by one of the houses, Polybius only caught a quick glance of a man that had a very uncanny resemblance to him. The mute Titan made a quick mental note of the address as the two just walked right by it.

Inside that house, Montezuma continued to watch TV. He was flipping channels when he saw the news come up.

"Yes, that's right folks. A massive storm of asteroids, meteors, and other space rocks are headed straight for our solar system. Some of these rocks are many times larger than our planet, and even our own sun. And while this would have spelled the end for humanity a mere thirty years ago, now with the Justice League, this crisis will surely be dealt with swiftly and tirelessly."

"You see." The voice of the Sun God "Wonder Woman is going to get tied down with that for a few weeks, keeping her off our trail as we finally begin the next phase in our plan."

"Oh, we are?" Montezuma asked, eating some of his leftover Applebees.

"Yes." The voice stated "Tomorrow, I want you to tease her with the outside. The illusion of escape and freedom. Don't actually take her outside, but put her face up to that basement window you've got covered down there and look through it."

"That's an odd request." Montezuma commented "But, you are the boss. And I will do as you say."

"Exactly." The voice said, "And maybe if things go just right, I will finally allow you to sacrifice her soul to me."

"Really!?" Montezuma asked, getting excited.

"Yep!" The voice said "But that is a maybe. Depends on how I'm feeling tomorrow. Otherwise, I may just have you force her to watch another sacrifice."

"You got it." Montezuma said.

"Oh yeah. It's all coming together now." The voice stated.

"It sure is." Montezuma agreed.

A few hours later, back at the tower, the team sat down and began discussing whether or not to add Terra to their roster. Ultimately, despite Raven's heavy protests, she was outvoted by all of the others, and they agreed to add her to the team.

However, apparently, Terra and Beast Boy had been spending a little more time together than anyone else was aware of. And when it was brought up that she couldn't completely control her powers, she left almost as quickly as she appeared. Not even so much as saying goodbye.

Regardless, after she left Polybius pulled out his phone and began texting Wonder Woman.

'I think I've got an update on Montezuma.' Polybius texted.

He almost got an immediate response back from the Amazon.

'Really!?' She texted back

'While I was out today, I saw a guy who looked almost exactly like me. If he still looks like me, then I know where he lives.' Polybius texted.

'Go for it!' Wonder Woman texted back.

'I will tomorrow. It's too late at night now to investigate this lead. He's asleep and I only caught a glance of him. However, I think this might be it.' Polybius texted.

'It had better be. After everything this guy did, make sure you rough him up good if it is him.' 'Wonder Woman responded.

'You can't make it?' Polybius questioned.

'Can't. League's got me dealing with these space rocks that just appeared out of nowhere. I'll be tied down with this for at least a few weeks.' She shot back.

'Alright.' Polybius responded.

'However, after everything you've shown me, I have full faith and confidence in you that you can bring this guy down. After all, you managed to fight off me. And while neither of us really won, the fact that you could take me shows just how good you are at what you do.' Wonder Woman expressed over text.

'Thanks.' Polybius texted back.

'No problem. Also, if my sister Donna is still alive by some miracle, please take good care of her. She's probably scared to death right now if she is alive.' She responded.

'Will do.' Polybius finished the text conversation.

With that, Polybius headed off to his room. Once there, he laid down in bed and looked up at the ceiling and began thinking about what he had told Raven earlier. And despite how distant she could seem at times, she really pulled through for him. He was so thankful that she made Darkbius go away.

Meanwhile, back at Montezuma's house in the dark, Donna Troy was being forced to watch yet another sacrifice. The Aztec warrior ripping out a still-beating heart of some poor black woman and then eating it. She knew for a fact that sometime in the future, that would be her heart getting eaten by the scary man.

"Ah, ha, ha!" Montezuma laughed as he finished the heart.

The man then looked over to Donna, who was stuffed in her little dog cage. He couldn't help but give a large, evil smile as he looked at the completely broken and defenseless girl.

"Don't worry my dear." Montezuma teased "Your time will soon come. I shall feast on your heart to satisfy the Sun God!"

Donna shook her head as tears began to run down her face. She didn't want to die like this. She didn't want to live like this either. All she wanted to do was go home. She wanted to see her mother, her sisters, her friends. She just wanted to be safe.

But no, here she was, tied up, completely broken, humiliated, hurt, tortured, and petrified of a man. She couldn't help but think everything her mother said about men seemed to be true. Not only that, but it was far worse than she could have ever imagined. She was baffled as to how her older sister Diana could live in such a horrible world.

"And when you are given, the wrongs of Hernán Cortés will be rectified, and this European, imperialist world shall crumble before the proper Aztec way of life! Ha!"

Montezuma pumped both of his fists into the air in a sense of victory. Donna only dreaded hearing him talk. That voice, it was never going to leave her. And never would she be able to hear that voice and not think of him.

"But I guess, for now, you'll just have to suffer down here." Montezuma said, "Suffer here while I go finish up my Applebees leftovers."

The Aztec then headed upstairs and turned off the light, leaving Donna in the very so familiar darkness.

For her, the darkness was now providing a sort of comfort level she never thought darkness could. Because she knew for a fact that if the light wasn't on, then most likely Montezuma wasn't here. However, he had occasionally surprised her by suddenly attacking her in complete darkness.

As Donna continued to cry in her small prison, Raven meanwhile tried to meditate, but couldn't focus her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about Polybius.

Out of all of the Titans, everyone agreed that Polybius was the toughest. Not only physically, but also mentally. Since she could not detect his emotions with her powers like she could everyone else, it really made him an enigma to her.

She didn't think he was depressed. Raven tried to put herself mentally in Polybius's boots as best she could. And seeing how crushing of a blow it would have been to him to think that every female in the world saw him as nothing more than eye candy. And while she had run into some really degenerate males in her time, there were still those, such as her teammates, who didn't look at her like that, and she knew they didn't. Yet with him having overheard that one time she said it out loud, it was enough to crush him.

However, none of that really mattered now. What did matter was that he was safe and with them. He didn't run off and do anything really stupid like a few certain emotionclones feared. No, he just ran off to the forest. Why the forest was a mystery to Raven, but that didn't matter.

All that mattered was that he was safe and happier than he was earlier. The mute Titan really meant a lot to Raven. And while some of it she would never say out loud, she did look up to him. She envied his resilience and forgiveness. She just couldn't understand why he was so forgiving. She wished she could be as forgiving as him, but with her personality, she knew it could never happen.

Regardless of all of that, however, she was glad to have him. Polybius was a really valuable member of the team, and she would have a heart attack if anything bad happened to him.

**I hope you enjoyed that chapter and have a good rest your day!**


	16. Chapter 16: Beat Down

_Chapter 16_

_Beat Down..._

The mute Titan gathered his things and headed out to the home where he had seen his look alike. Once there, Polybius took a position across the street in the forest. By climbing up a tree, he was able to successfully hide himself as he began his operation.

Meanwhile, inside the home, Montezuma, completely unaware of Polybius's observation, stepped out of the shower and dried off. Once he put on his clothing, he headed downstairs to the basement and turned on the light.

There, he found Cortés passed out in her little dog cage. He quietly walked up to her and observed her.

He noticed that even in her sleep, she did not look peaceful. She looked tormented and scared. Exactly how Montezuma wanted it. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of sacrificing her to the Sun God today. And while he had been forced to hold back during the torture, today, he wasn't going to hold back at all!

Turning on the furnace, the Aztec took a long metal rod and put part of it in. This heated up the metal on that end while leaving the other end cold. Taking it out, red hot and steaming, he looked over to the sleeping girl and smiled.

Pressing the hot metal against her exposed thigh, the Amazon woke up with a shriek of pain and terror. As he pressed down the blazing hot rod into her skin causing it to bubble. He pressed down for a solid two minutes before pulling away.

"Wakey, wakey." Montezuma said as he moved his head closer to the cage "I'm in a great mood today. So great in fact, that I don't feel like holding back as I have been."

Donna went wide-eyed as tears began to stream down her face again.

"Yes, I think today, I am really gonna go all-in on you Cortés." Montezuma started with an evil smile on his face "And maybe, if you're good, I'll sacrifice you to the Sun God today."

Donna shook her head, causing Montezuma to pull away from the cage.

"No!?" The Aztec asked, "I won't take no for an answer!"

Montezuma then pressed the hot metal rod down right next to the spot he had the previous one, causing Donna to once again cry in pain.

Hours went by and Polybius sat up in his tree watching the house. He didn't see anybody leave for work this morning, which was odd since it was a Tuesday. Not only that, but he hadn't seen any movement coming from inside the home.

As he sat in his tree, he couldn't help but pull out his cell phone. When he did, he saw that Robin had texted him.

'Polybius, where r u?' Robin texted.

'Stakeout.' Polybius replied.

'?' Robin questioned.

'I think I may have a break on the Montezuma case. I think I may have found where he lives.' Polybius texted back.

'What makes u think that?' Robin texted back.

'As I was walking around this area yesterday, I saw a guy in one of the houses that had a very uncanny resemblance to me. If what Wonder Woman said was true, then he may still look like me now.' Polybius explained over text.

'That's a bit of a stretch, don't u think?' Robin questioned.

'No.' Polybius texted back.

'Well, let us know if you find anything. I'm not going to stop u from ur work.' Robin replied.

Back at the tower, Robin looked up from his phone to see Cyborg and Beast Boy replaying that Star Quest Deluxe game. As per usual, Starfire was watching them, and cheering them on. Robin had been so thankful that they had bought two controllers so they could play together.

As Robin finished up his breakfast, he couldn't help himself and decided to join the duo with the third controller they had bought. Together, they continued to replay the game until Raven walked in.

"Has anybody seen Polybius?" Raven asked the group.

"Nope." Beast Boy responded for the group because Robin wasn't really paying attention to her "And even if he was here, he'd probably have headphones in."

"Why?" Raven asked confused.

"He doesn't like this lady's voice." Beast Boy said.

Raven thought about it for a moment. She couldn't help but find it strange considering what had happened last night.

"Nah, it wasn't the voice." Cyborg countered "It was the screen that made him sick."

That made sense to Raven. While she didn't know Polybius too well, she knew for a fact that he was an outdoorsman. It wouldn't be that far of a stretch to assume that he didn't have much experience with technology considering how much he had to be taught. He barely knew how to use the internet when they first met him.

"He's on a stakeout." Robin replied.

"He is?" Starfire asked.

"He said he thinks he's got a very good lead on Montezuma." Robin explained, "I personally think it's a bit of a stretch, but if it brings a break in this guy's case, then I'm all for it."

"What about Slade?" Starfire asked, "You haven't been as obsessive over him as you were the previous time."

The team all looked to Robin now to see what his answer was.

"Because I know we can take him down." Robin said, "We've done it before, and we can and will do it again!"

Meanwhile, hours later back at Montezuma's home, Donna had her hands tied to the ceiling. Her hair was a mess, and she was bleeding from several open wounds. Montezuma had just finished whipping her 'like the Spanish did when they made his people slaves.'

The Aztec couldn't help but smile as he put his whip down. He walked up to the helpless girl and calmly caressed her chin. Slowly lifting her face up to his. With the two being the same height, it was easy to bring her to his eye level.

"Are you having fun?" The Aztec asked with a sly grin on his face.

Donna didn't respond as she just stared at him between strands of hair, her eyelids only half-open.

"Oh now don't tell me you're getting tired!" Montezuma said, "A cold shower will wake up in a jiffy."

Walking over to the garden hose in his basement, he hooked it up to the sink that was also down there.

"You're just in luck." Montezuma said, "I've got that soap that really burns with open wounds."

Donna grounded when he said that.

"Oh come on now!" Montezuma said, "At least you're getting clean!"

After blasting her down with the garden hose and giving her a sort of shower, the Aztec then went to the lone basement window and took off the cover. He then approached her again and moved her hair out of her face.

"Would you look at that?" Montezuma said pointing to the window "Sunlight. It's been right there this whole time, and you've been so close to it. So close to your freedom. But you Spaniards, especially you Cortés, are never going to get your freedom. You don't deserve it. Not after everything you did. But look at me! I can go outside whenever!"

Back outside, Polybius was starting to wonder if he had been seeing things. There was no movement inside the home at all, all day. His mind was a fan of playing tricks on him and maybe this was just another one. Maybe he had just seen Darkbius one last time before-

Polybius was suddenly cut off of these thoughts when he saw the front door swing open. Much to his surprise, a man who looked almost exactly like him walked out of his home. The mute Titan watched as he walked around his home to his basement window and looked in. he knocked on it a few times, said some things Polybius couldn't make out. And then went back inside.

There was no way Polybius was going to walk away from this.

Once back inside his home, Montezuma began making his way towards the basement. It was getting late and the sun was going down. This was usually the time he made sacrifices and was wondering if tonight he was going to give Cortés to the Sun God.

"May I sacrifice her?" Montezuma asked in his home.

"Go ahead and prepare her." The voice of the Sun God bellowed through the home "But don't start."

"Yes!" Montezuma said happily as he quickly rushed downstairs.

Back outside, Polybius slowly climbed down the tree he had been hiding in all day. He began to ponder how exactly he was going to take down Montezuma.

He had a sneaking suspicion that, based on how Montezuma looked through that window, he wasn't alone.

In Polybius's mind, the hopes of Wonder Woman's younger sister Donna still being alive were long gone. However, Polybius did think it was possible that Montezuma may have other people in his home at this time. Whether that was another sacrifice or other New Aztecs he had been talking about was a question only time would answer.

Walking across the street and up to the property line of the home, Polybius devised a plan in his head as to how he was going to take down Montezuma. Knowing full well that his arsenal of tools he had at his disposal were not going to be enough, and firing the flare gun or explosives off in a home that small had too much of a risk of getting himself hurt as well. And knowing his other weapons would more than likely have little to no effect on the Aztec, Polybius resolved to use his powers to defeat him.

Pulling out his cell phone real quick, Polybius opened up his messenger app and texted Robin.

'I think I may have him.' Polybius texted.

'Where r u?' Robin questioned.

Polybius then texted the address to the leader while also stating that he was going to go forward with his investigation.

'We're on our way.' Robin texted back.

'Don't rush. If the past has taught us anything about Montezuma, it is that most leads are fake dead ends.' Polybius shot back before putting his phone away.

Meanwhile, back inside, Montezuma tied down Donna to the pool table and stood looking over her.

"Finally." Montezuma said, "Today is the day you shall be sent to the Sun God for your punishment!"

"Now hold up." The Sun God said real quick.

"What!?" Montezuma asked, being the only one who could hear their voice.

"There is one more thing I want you to do to her." The Sun God said quite devilishly.

Back outside, Polybius found the backyard door to be unlocked and opened. And while Polybius was technically trespassing, he had excuses he could use to avoid criminal charges.

Moving silently around the house, Polybius heard a voice come from the basement.

"It would be such a shame to send you off without spoiling you first." The unmistakable voice of Montezuma commented.

Quietly and swiftly moving through the house, Polybius quickly made his way over to the basement. And what he saw ignited a fire of rage inside him that had never burned like it was now.

Donna looked up at Montezuma in tears as he knew exactly what he was about to do. She tried to fight against her restraints, but she was too weak to. Montezuma smiled as he grabbed hold of his fully erect penis.

However, before anything could happen, Polybius sprung into action. Quickly blindsiding the man, Polybius grabbed hold of him and slammed him into the wall.

"Oof!" Montezuma said as he slammed into the wall.

Donna's eyes locked onto Polybius and Montezuma. She watched as the man dressed in black unleashed an unholy rage upon her tormentor.

After slamming him into the wall, Polybius was quick to then punch the Aztec in his face. This caused his head to get pinned between the mute's fist and the wall, cracking his skull in multiple places.

The mute Titan then grabbed Montezuma by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. Then using four of his back tentacles, Polybius unleashed began beating the man with his tentacles, hitting him harder than he ever could with his fist. After doing this for a solid thirty seconds, Polybius then took the man by the feet and threw him across the room and into the wall above the sink.

Falling into the sink, Polybius then grabbed a nearby golf club as Montezuma pulled himself out of the sink. However, while on his hands and knees, Polybius came up behind him and began beating him with the lob wedge golf club. First hitting him in the head, causing him to fall on his face, and putting his hands over his head to protect them.

After hitting Montezuma with the club a dozen times, Polybius then grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and lifted him up to his knees. Polybius then proceeded to drop the club, and punch Montezuma in the face three times.

To follow this up, Polybius then picked up the big man and threw him across the room again, this time sending him sliding down a counter that had most of the torture tools he had been using on Donna. This caused all fo the tools to fall over, some of them hurting him in the process as well. From here, he rolled over onto the ground.

Polybius then followed him as Montezuma began to crawl away. The mute was moving at a slower pace than Montezuma at first, but right before Polybius left Donna's line of sight, he sped up.

All Donna then heard was three sounds that came from Montezuma, each sound accompanied by a small blood splatter that landed on the table, but not her.

"Oof!"

"Ack!"

"Ugh!"

And then this was followed by a loud crash. Looking back over to her right, she saw that Polybius had thrown Montezuma through the nine-inch thick wall, solid concrete wall. Donna was a little shocked when she saw this.

Laying on top of the rubble was a barely alive Montezuma. His breathing was heavily labored and there was a lot of blood pouring out of his broken body.

The next thing Donna saw was a man, who looked a lot like Montezuma quickly rushed to her side. He didn't say a word as he quickly freed her. He helped her sit up and took off his jacket. He quickly wrapped it around her broken body as she brought her knees into her chest. She watched as he then pulled out a notebook, wrote something down and handed it to her.

'My name is Polybius. I am a Teen Titan and I have been working with your sister Diana to bring this guy down. You are safe now.' Is what the note read.

"S- Safe?" Donna asked, scared.

Polybius nodded.

Donna couldn't help but smile as she burst into tears. She quickly latched onto the mute Titan, embracing him in a hug. The mute Titan was quick to return this hug and as she began to ball her eyes out in relief, he pulled out his phone and began texting Robin.

'Bring clothing and med supplies. Time now!' Polybius texted Robin.

However, Robin wouldn't see this text until later as only a moment after putting his phone away, he heard Starfire call out his name.

"Polybius!?" Starfire called out.

The sound of Donna's crying lead the team to the basement, where they found her in Polybius's arms.

"Down here!" He heard Raven call-out at the top of the stairs.

Once down in the basement, the Titans saw everything. All of the torture devices scattered around the room, Polybius and Donna embracing each other, the shattered wall.

"Polybius!" Robin shouted, as the team quickly rushed into the basement "Where's Montezuma."

Polybius pointed behind him where the shattered wall was.

"But Polybius." Starfire said, "There's no one there."

Polybius then looked behind him to see that once again, there was no trace of Montezuma anywhere. This caused the mute Titan's jaw to drop as there was no way he should have been able to get up and walk away like that. He wasn't even conscious!

The mute Titan looked back at Robin and the look on his face said it all.

"I see…" Robin said.

Starfire was quick to rush to Donna's side.

"Hello!" Starfire greeted warmly "Are you in need of immediate medical assistance?"

Polybius nodded his head and answered for her, as his jacket was covering up most of her injuries.

"Then I shall fetch the first kit of aids from Cyborg's trunk!" Starfire said before quickly flying off.

"Dude." Beast Boy spoke up "What happened?"

Polybius didn't respond as he comforted the broken girl. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin began looking around to piece together what had happened. Meanwhile Raven began using her powers to heal Donna.

And when Starfire returned with the medical kit from Cyborg's vehicle, the true extent of Donna's injuries were revealed.

"We need to get her back to the tower and in the medical bay." Raven quickly said after lifting up the jacket and seeing the full extent of visible damage.

"How bad is it?" Robin asked, concern high in his voice.

"BAD!" Raven replied.

"Then you, Starfire and Polybius head back to the tower. Cyborg, Beast Boy and I will stay here and see if we can find anything as to what happened to Montezuma."

Then, without another word, Raven then quickly enveloped Donna, Polybius, Starfire and herself in her dark magic and quickly teleported them to the medical bay of Titans tower. Once there, the trio got to work.

"Please don't leave." Donna begged Polybius as he tried to break away from her.

Polybius used his notebook to write down that he wasn't leaving, and that she was going to get all of the help she needed. But in order for him to help her, he needed to leave arm's reach of her.

Donna understood this and let go of the mute Titan, and the trio quickly set to work.

**And now Donna has been saved! Yay!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a good rest of your day!**


	17. Chapter 17: Awaken

_Chapter 17_

_Awaken..._

It had taken Polybius, Starfire and Raven a painstaking 12 hours straight of work to heal Donna. Between Raven's powers, and Starfire and Polybius's work, they were able to bring Donna back to a near-perfect condition. While she would be confined to the bed for a few days, thanks to Raven's awesome powers, she wouldn't bear any physical scars.

But the mental and emotional ones she would live with for the rest of her life.

The mute Titan knew exactly what kinds of horrors she was going to face. Flashbacks, uneasy feelings, the sudden feeling of pain in a certain spot when nothing was happening there, hallucinations, and a slew of other horrific things that were going to haunt her down the long and harsh road to recovery.

That being said, Polybius resolved to try and help her as best he could for the time the Titan with had her. Shortly after the operation, he texted Wonder Woman a picture of Donna and about his findings. And while she was ecstatic and relieved to hear that Donna was safe and under the best treatment he could offer her, there was some other news as well.

The massive space rock storm that had been barreling towards Earth only seems to have intensified. More and more rocks kept showing up, seemingly out of nowhere. This forcibly tied Wonder Woman down with this problem she had been assigned. This, by extension, meant that it was going to be at least a few weeks before she could come and take Donna back home. This meant she would be left under his care for a considerable length of time.

The mute Titan accepted this responsibility and was left in charge of Donna. At the moment he texted her, Donna had been given sleep gas so the trio could most effectively perform all of the medical duties they needed to perform.

And while Donna rested, Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy returned back to the tower after doing an extensive search of Montezuma's lair.

And nothing came up.

"I don't get it." Robin said as the three entered the medical bay where the other four were "How can a guy just disappear?"

"He has to be using some sort of magic." Raven replied "From what Polybius explained, Montezuma looked almost exactly like him. In fact, the only reason he's not sure he looked exactly like him was because it was dark and he didn't get a good look at his face."

Polybius nodded as he sat by Donna's side.

"How is she?" Cyborg asked.

"She is better." Starfire replied "It took us a long time, but she has made the fullest recovery. At least physically."

"Mentally, there is no telling how bad things are going to get for her." Raven added.

"And with all of those torture devices we found down there…" Cyborg trailed off.

"What about Wonder Woman?" Robin asked.

"Won't be here for at least a few weeks." Raven said "The space rock storm that came out of nowhere has her tied down. She's left her in our care for the time being. And made it very clear that Polybius is in charge of Donna."

"That's fine." Robin said.

"Wait, hold up!" Beast Boy said, "If Montezuma looked like Polybius, and all the dudes who attacked her home looked like Polybius, wouldn't Polybius just make her scared?"

That was actually a very good question, but Raven had an answer.

"I don't think so." Raven explained, "When she first wakes up, she might get a little scared, but once she realizes that Polybius is not Montezuma and we explain to her everything, she should be chill with him."

"Raven, did you just say chill?" Cyborg asked.

"Did I?" Raven asked herself.

"You did!" Beast Boy said.

"It's been a long day." Robin said "For all of us. None of us have had any sleep in over twenty-four hours."

"Shouldn't someone stay here with her?" Starfire asked, pointing to Donna.

Polybius raised his hand and volunteered.

"Nah, man, you need sleep." Cyborg said "You were up before any of us yesterday. Go get some rest. I'll stay and watch. I'll just charge my battery as I sit here and watch over her."

"Yes, go get some rest, Polybius!" Starfire said, "After your fight with Montezuma, it sounds like you need it the most."

"Fight?" Raven asked, "More like he clobbered him."

"Oh?" Robin questioned.

"From what Polybius has explained to us, he was able to get the surprise on Montezuma." Starfire explained, "And with how intense Polybius was, the villain wasn't even able to try and defend himself from our friend."

"That's alright." Robin said, "After everything we've found out about this guy, I can't say he doesn't deserve it."

Polybius then looked up at Robin expecting an answer.

"Um…" Robin started looking back at Polybius "You may not want to hear this."

The mute Titan shook his head.

"Well, uh…" Robin started.

"We found evidence of him sacrificing other people." Cyborg put it bluntly.

Starfire and Raven gasped and Polybius went wide-eyed. The news hit him like a crazy train going off the rails.

"Cyborg!" Robin said.

The mute Titan began shaking his head in disbelief. He had suspected it, and both Darkbius and Robin had told him, but he didn't actually think it was really happening. At least he didn't fully believe the two of them.

"What?" Cyborg questioned.

"Polybius?" Starfire asked looking over at the mute Titan who was just shaking his head.

Polybius then proceeded to take off his hat and put both hands on his head, covering his face.

"Yo, Polybius! Calm down!" Beast Boy said as the team quickly moved to comfort him except Robin.

The masked leader was guilt-ridden. He remembered months ago when he had yelled at Polybius. Telling him that people were getting killed. While Robin didn't exactly think at that moment in time that Montezuma was killing people, only then having proven himself to be a petty thief, now…

"Polybius, I- I'm so sorry." Robin started.

"What are you sorry for!?" Beast Boy asked, not harshly, but surprised.

"Remember a long while ago when I yelled at Polybius?" Robin asked.

"Which time?" Cyborg asked.

"The time he was in his garden and I had just gotten back from a dead-end with Slade. None of you were there, but I told you about it later that evening." Robin answered.

"Yeah." Cyborg answered.

"I, uh…" Robin started, "In my anger, I told him that people were dying while he was fooling around in his garden."

"What!?" The entire team questioned in shock.

"At the time, we didn't have any reason to believe that Montezuma was actually killing people. He was just a thief!" Robin defended "I had no idea he was actually doing it! I couldn't have known!"

"Doesn't mean you had to say it!" Beast Boy shouted back.

"Polybius, it's alright." Raven was quick to comfort him, knowing he was headed for the deep end on this one "You did your best! You could not have known that Montezuma was killing people. Just stay calm."

The mute Titan let Raven's words comfort him.

"Yes!" Starfire quickly jumped in "You could not have known, and you were very committed to the search. And you were able to save at least one person!"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy jumped in "You put a stop to him! He's gonna be gone for a long while!"

The mute Titan didn't respond as the shock of the news overtook him.

"Come on man." Cyborg said sympathetically, "Don't beat yourself up over it. Things happen. And my gosh, did you put in a lot of hard work to find and capture Montezuma. You've put a stop to his rampage! That's a win in our book."

The mute Titan looked up at his team who were sympathetically smiling back at him. For some reason, despite how bad he should be feeling at that moment, now that the shock was washing off, he had a hard time feeling sad. In fact, he was feeling a bit warm inside.

"Come on." Starfire said extending a hand "Let's get you to your room so you can rest."

Polybius then proceeded to take that hand. He grabbed his hat and let Starfire lead him to his room. Once there, he took a seat in his bed.

"I shall fetch you a glass full of the water." Starfire said, knowing Polybius always slept with a glass of water in his arms reach.

Starfire was gone for less than a minute before returning with the glass. She set it on his nightstand and then put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright friend?" Starfire asked.

The mute Titan nodded.

"And you are certain you do not require anything else?" Starfire followed up.

Again, Polybius nodded.

"Very well." Starfire said "I shall let you sleep. I will come and wake you if anything happens, or if Donna requests you."

With that, Starfire left the mute Titan and he quickly wasted no time getting to sleep. However, as he drifted off into that realm, he couldn't help but think about how awesome his friends were, and how grateful he was to have them.

While it was very uncharacteristic for Polybius to sleep long hours, for the first time in a long time, Polybius slept more than 8 hours. He slept for nearly 11 hours as a matter of fact. And when he awoke, he forgot what day, month and year it was. However, a quick look at his phone showed him that it was the next day. In fact, he had woken up at his usual time the next day. Way before the sun, and before anybody else.

Wasting no time, Polybius was quick to digest a health mix and head down to the medical bay. There, he found Starfire watching over Donna, who was still fast asleep.

"Polybius!" Starfire jumped when he entered the room.

The mute Titan then pointed at the sleeping girl.

"She has yet to awaken since we put her to sleep." Starfire said.

The mute Titan nodded. His health mixes were surprisingly filling despite it being made up entirely of plants.

"Please, friend, have you eaten breakfast yet?" Starfire asked.

The mute Titan nodded.

"Well, why don't you go and relax." Starfire said, "As I said a while ago, I will get you when there is an update."

The mute Titan shook his head. He then took a seat at the table Starfire was sitting at and pulled out his phone.

Starfire, seeing that Polybius wasn't leaving, went back to her phone too. The two Titans messed around on their cell phones for about another hour before Donna disturbed them.

"Where am I?" She questioned out loud.

"Good morning!" Starfire was quick to jump up, leaving her phone on the table "You are in Titans tower!"

"Titans tower?" She questioned looking up at the two before pointing to Polybius, who had started making his way over to her "You. You saved me…"

"Yes, he did!" Starfire said happily "And by order of your older sister, the Woman of Wonder, he is in charge of you until she can come and take you to the Island of Paradise!"

"He is?" Donna questioned looking over at the mute "He, he's not gonna hurt me. Right?"

"My friend Polybius would never do such a thing!" Starfire declared, "And neither would I!"

"So, I'm safe?" She asked extremely nervous.

"You are in the safest place on the entire planet!" Starfire declared.

Donna let out a sigh of relief as Polybius took a seat next to her.

"You." Donna said looking over him "Polybius, right?"

The mute Titan nodded.

"Why does he not talk?" Donna asked.

"He is mute." Starfire answered.

"Mute?" Donna asked.

"He cannot speak using his voice." Starfire explained "He has been this way ever since we met him. However, he claims to have had his voice at one point in his life."

"So he communicates by writing things down?" Donna asked.

"And the motions of the body and hands." Starfire asked, "He also texts to get his point across."

"Text?" Donna asked, not knowing what that was.

"Oh, let me show you!" Starfire said, "Now where did I leave my phone?"

Polybius pointed to the table, and Starfire quickly grabbed it. She then began texting a message to Polybius. It wasn't long after that, that the mute Titan's phone vibrated and Donna looked over at his phone.

"That's cool!" Donna commented.

"The best part is, we can text each other from anywhere on the planet!" Starfire added.

"Anywhere?" Donna asked.

"Anywhere!" Starfire confirmed, "So long as we both have the service for the cellular devices."

"That's amazing!" Donna said.

"It's wonderful!" Starfire declared.

Starfire then took a seat on the other side of Donna's bed.

"So this is man's world?" Donna asked, "Like, the real world?"

"Yes!" Starfire answered "You friend, have been in a horrible situation for months by the evil Montezuma. However, you are now freed from that now!"

"So you mean everything I've experienced in this world, is not how this world really is?" Donna asked.

"Most certainly not!" Starfire said, "This world can be scary and strange at times, but both Polybius and I have come to love it?"

"But haven't you both grown up in man's world?" Donna asked.

"I have not." Starfire stated "I grew up on the planet of Tamaran. It is another world far away from this one."

"So you're an alien?" Donna asked.

"That is true!" Starfire said.

"Okay." Donna said, "What about you?"

Polybius then texted a message to Starfire and then she read it out loud.

"I grew up in a very remote, rural location. I, like you, had very little experience when I made the journey to Jump City. In fact, seeing so many people actually made me quite nervous when I first got here. However, now that I have been acquainted with the Titans for almost a year now, I have learned that the world beyond my home is far greater than anything I could have ever imagined! And the people of this world, while not all are good, some, like the two in front of you, are the nicest people you'll ever meet!" Starfire read out loud.

"Wow." Donna said looking at the two.

"Please, before we continue, would you like to be our friend?" Starfire questioned.

"You promise you won't hurt me?" Donna asked timidly.

"Never! Right Polybius?" Starfire asked.

The mute Titan gave a big, and characteristically warm smile and a big nod of agreement.

"Then, yes. We can be friends!" Donna said.

"Oh, wonderful!" Starfire shouted, "I would hug you, but I do not want to risk doing any more damage to you or undoing all of the work we did on you yesterday."

"What?" Donna asked.

"You will be confined to this bed for a few days, but soon we will take you out and explore the city! We will have so much fun together!" Starfire declared.

"Out?" Donna asked nervously.

"Do not worry new friend!" Starfire assured her "Both I and Polybius, and maybe the others will be with you as well!"

"A- Alright." Donna said, still quite nervous.

The mute Titan then took her hand, causing her to look over at him. He gave her a reassuring look with a soft smile.

"Nothing's going to happen." Donna said for him.

The mute Titan nodded.

**And there you have it for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	18. Chapter 18: Rise and Shine

_Chapter 18_

_Rise and Shine..._

"You ready?" Starfire asked.

"I think so." Donna replied grabbing onto Polybius.

Polybius, in turn, held onto Donna as she put her feet on the ground. Today was the day she could finally be released from the medical bay. However, because she had lived stuffed in a dog cage for a long while, she doubted her ability to walk, despite Raven's powers. As such Polybius, being the same height as her, offered to help the younger girl.

Then again, younger wasn't a really good term as she was born on the same day as him. April 21st. She was also the same age as him too. The same day, and year. Neither one knew what time of day they were born, so as far as they were concerned, they were both exactly the same age.

Over the course of the past few days, in the medical bay, it had mostly been Polybius, Donna, and Starfire hanging out together. While Raven, Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg had visited the girl, it was Polybius and Starfire that kept her company, and she was very grateful for it.

And as such, the trio got to know each other very well. Most of what they did was talk until Polybius brought some UNO cards when the two came back from a mission. This gave the trio something to do as they hung out.

But now, it was time to get Donna out of that bed.

"One." Starfire started.

Polybius then held up two fingers.

"Three!" Donna shouted as she pushed herself off the bed.

Holding on tight to Polybius, she had a hard time catching her balance but was able to soon find it. Once she was balanced, she gave Polybius a nod and the two began to slowly walk towards the exit.

"Thank you." Donna said slightly embarrassed and a little pink in the face.

The mute Titan just smiled as he prepared for the final part.

"Stay close." Donna ordered.

The mute Titan nodded as he slowly let go of her.

When he finally broke contact with her, she almost fell over but caught herself. From there she began walking on her own, but Polybius stayed close by her side.

"Wonderful!" Starfire shouted with glee "Raven's powers truly are the best!"

"Yeah." Donna agreed "So where are we off to?"

"Wherever you like!" Starfire said.

"How about someplace I get some clothes and out of this gown." Donna said.

"Then we shall go to my room!" Starfire said.

The trio then headed to Starfire's room. There, Starfire was quick to pick out one of her extra uniforms.

"Here you are!" Starfire offered.

Donna looked at the clothing and let out a small chuckle.

"What?" Starfire asked, "Is there something wrong with it?"

"No!" Donna quickly said, "It's just…"

"You want something that covers you up a bit more?" Starfire asked, causing Donna to get red in the face.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Well, unfortunately, all I have are uniforms, and so does Raven.

The mute Titan then pointed to himself.

"You think she'll fit into your clothing?" Starfire asked.

Polybius then pointed to his pants and shook his head. But then his finger moved up to his jacket.

"You are right." Starfire said, "She could wear my bottoms and your top!"

"You really don't have to." Donna said, but the mute Titan shook his head as he took off his jacket.

The mute Titan then handed it to the girl, who reluctantly accepted it. However, as she did, she noticed something about his hands.

"Are you, uh, missing a finger?" Donna asked nervously.

The mute Titan then held up his hands to reveal that he didn't have his ring fingers on either hand. Donna took a moment to study this before Polybius put his hands down. The mute Titan then exited the room to allow her to change.

As Polybius stood outside and waited in the hallway, Beast Boy came walking down.

"Yo, Polybius! What up!?" The green Titan called out.

The mute Titan gave a smile and a wave as the other walked up, with Cyborg in toe.

"So you hanging out with Donna?" Beast Boy asked.

Polybius nodded.

"Cool." Beast Boy said.

"You going to get yourself a date with her?" Cyborg followed up "Maybe even smash?"

The mute Titan looked up at Cyborg with a rather angry look.

"What?" Cyborg asked, "Girl is quite hot."

"And thiccc with 3 Cs!" Beast Boy added.

The mute Titan shot both of them the angry look.

"What?" Cyborg asked, "If you are, you, her, Sarah, and I can all go out on a date!"

The mute Titan gave Cyborg a confused look at the mention of Sarah.

"He doesn't know about Sarah." Beast Boy told Cyborg.

"Oh." Cyborg said, "Well, while you were out on your stakeout of Montezuma, I got me a date with a girl."

The mute Titan smiled and gave a small clap. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Donna and Starfire were hearing everything the two were talking about.

"Men." Donna commented, "Do all of them really just look at women for how our bodies look!?"

"Not Polybius!" Starfire quickly defended.

"What makes him so different?" Donna asked, "I bet he's nodding yes to smashing me!"

"I bet he's not." Starfire said, "Polybius hates that kind of stuff."

"Oh?" Donna asked, not believing fully believing her.

"Yes." Starfire went on "Just the other day, our friend Terra called him cute and hot. He got so angered by this he walked away. Speaking of which, I would highly recommend you not compliment him on his looks as he really does not like that."

"That doesn't really say much." Donna added.

"Well, you may not believe me now, but the longer you stick around Polybius, you'll find out that he hates sexualizing things. And generally avoids talking about the sex period."

"So?" Donna replied.

"So that means out of every man you will ever meet, Polybius is the last one to look at you for your body." Starfire answered

"And why does he not like it?" Donna asked.

"We do not know." Starfire asked "It is sort of an unspoken rule around here that we do not talk about our pasts unless it is important, or we want to share something with the group. Like for instance, going back to Polybius, he never eats around anybody. He always does it in his room alone. I have asked him about it before and he said it's because of personal reasons."

"Okay." Donna replied, "Still, you promise that you are telling me the truth and that Polybius is not trying to smash me?"

"I would put everything I have on it." Starfire assured her.

Donna then calmed down and finished changing. When she finished, from her waist down, she wore Starfire's clothing, while on going the opposite way, she wore Polybius's. When she opened the door, she saw Polybius, who looked quite agitated, staring down Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"Come on man!" Cyborg said, "You can't walk away from that!"

"Yeah, you'd be insane too!" Beast Boy added.

"Insane to walk away from what?" Donna asked as she approached Polybius.

"Uh…" Both Cyborg and Beast Boy said at the same time.

"Well?" Donna asked, "It's not like I could hear you on the other side of the door you know."

Both Cyborg and Beast Boy got really nervous.

"Seriously, do you two just see me for my body!?" Donna demanded.

"N- No!" Both Titans quickly answered.

"Liars!" Donna quickly stated "Trying to get Polybius to have sex with me, right!?"

The mute Titan then looked over at Donna, who now shared the same angered expression he did moments ago. However, his was now replaced by one of concern.

"No!" Beast Boy quickly defended.

"Liars!" Donna quickly accused them.

"Friend, please calm down!" Starfire insisted.

"No!" Donna insisted "Is this world just full of a bunch of perverted people who just want to screw me!?"

"No!" Cyborg said "If anybody, Polybius is the last person who would want to do that! And we don't see you for just your body!"

The mute Titan then tried to calm Donna down by putting a hand on her shoulder. However, she brushed him off.

"Ugh!" Donna shouted in anger "I just want to go home! To a place where people see me for who I am! Not by the size of my tits!"

The angered girl then stormed away. The mute Titan wasn't exactly sure where she was going to go. Starfire tried to follow her, but Polybius stopped her and shook his head. He knew she needed a little time before somebody attempted to reach out to her.

Also, he knew that he was the only one who knew how close she had come to being raped.

Polybius then looked back at Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"Uh… Sorry." Beast Boy tried to defend.

In anger, Polybius, for the first time, shot up his middle finger at them. Which from what he had learned, in this society, it was a very disrespectful thing to do.

"Yo!" Cyborg said, "Calm down man!"

The mute Titan shook his head before letting Starfire turn loose on them.

"You two are very bad friends!" Starfire said, "Talking about things that you know not only makes Polybius mad but also her as well."

"Look, we're sorry." Cyborg said.

"Yeah." Beast Boy said "We just meant to tease Polybius. We didn't mean for any of this to happen."

The mute Titan then left Starfire to let loose on the other two. She was quite upset by what they had done and she was going to give them a piece of her mind. Using this opportunity, the mute Titan then slipped away to slowly see if he could find Donna.

The Amazonian girl meanwhile, stormed off through the unfamiliar halls of Titans Tower. She didn't quite think walking away through as she didn't know the layout of the building. She quickly became lost in the maze of halls and rooms.

However, her luck would have it that she would find Raven.

"Hey, Donna." Raven greeted as she came out of her room "I sense that you are upset?"

"Yeah." Donna said.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Raven asked.

"Do all guys just see women for their bodies?" Donna asked.

"No." Raven responded without hesitation "Did somebody say, or do something that made you feel uncomfortable?"

"Cyborg and Beast Boy were talking about how 'sexy' and 'thicc' they think I was to Polybius." Donna explained, "Said they were just trying to tease him, but still."

"Well, they picked him because they knew it would get under his skin." Raven commented.

"Oh?" Donna questioned.

"Starfire really should have told you already, but don't comment Polybius on his looks. No cute, hot, sexy, or anything." Raven stated with authority in her voice.

"Yeah, she did say something about that." Donna replied, "But that doesn't mean he's not doing it to me."

"Trust me, Polybius has a really hard time with being looked at for his body too." Raven said "If you look it up online, you'll find that he is consistently ranked as one of the hottest men alive. And he hates it. He hates sex in general."

"But how do I know that he doesn't just look at me for my body and is lying to my face!?" Donna demanded.

"Because out of every man I've ever met, Polybius is that last person to do that." Raven said, "And while I don't know this for sure, I think he might be castrated."

"Castrated!?" Donna said surprised "What makes you think that!?"

"Well, about two months back, Polybius got hit between the legs, which as you know may or may not know, causes extreme pain for most men."

"But he didn't go down, did he?" Donna asked.

"No." Raven replied, "And while I've seen him take beatings that nobody else could survive, considering how sensitive that place is, especially for males, I don't think there is anything down there."

It then dawned on Donna that Polybius really didn't look at her for her body.

"So if there was any man you could trust to look at you for your person and not your body, it would be him." Raven added, "And if he is looking at you for just your body, that would be awfully hypocritical of him."

At that moment, Polybius turned the corner.

"And there he is!" Raven said.

Donna turned back to see the mute Titan begin approaching the two.

"We were just talking about you." Raven stated.

"Yeah." Donna said, "I'm sorry I got mad at you."

The mute Titan smiled warmly at her, he waved his hand to signal that it was fine.

"Thanks." Donna said, "You don't, hate me now, right?"

The mute Titan shook his head.

"That's another thing about Polybius." Raven added "Out of all of us, he is the most forgiving Titan. It's quite uncharacteristic of him not to forgive actually."

The mute Titan smiled and nodded his agreement.

"Oh thank goodness." Donna said with relief.

The mute Titan then motioned for her to come along with him. She smiled and the two-headed off.

The two then downstairs and outside. It was around noon and while it was a cooler day, it was still bright and sunny. Donna took a moment to take in the fresh air and feel the sun on her skin. She missed that feeling, and this was the first time she had felt it in a long time.

The mute Titan smiled as Donna took in the fresh air. After pausing for a moment and letting her soak it in, she began to speak.

"I forgot how much I missed the outdoors." Donna commented "Such a lovely place."

The mute Titan smiled and nodded. The two then quickly made their way off to the Garden of Eden.

"Wow." Donna commented, "You grow these?"

The mute Titan nodded.

"What for?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan then pointed to his back best he could.

"Your back?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan nodded.

"You grow plants for your back?" Donna asked confused.

The mute Titan pulled out his phone, having left his notebook inside the tower, he quickly pulled up his notes app and texted a response before showing it to Donna.

"Because of your powers, you have really bad back pain." Donna read out loud "What are your powers?"

Polybius then listed his back tentacles, thick skin, and the ability to change his vision.

"That's cool." Donna commented "But you refrain from using them because of the pain it causes you. Makes sense."

The mute Titan nodded.

"Friends!" The two suddenly heard Starfire shout as she flew over to them "There you two are!"

Starfire quickly landed by the two and smiled.

"I, Starfire, have dealt with the boys." She proclaimed "And do not worry Donna, they have been told to behave better!"

"Thank you." Donna replied.

"And have you and Polybius reconciled?" Starfire asked "Because if you still think that Polybius is only looking at you for your body, then I must tell you that you are wrong! That is something Polybius would not, nor ever do!"

"It's all good Starfire." Donna said "I bumped into Raven and we talked it over. I know that Polybius would never do that."

"Oh, glorious!" Starfire proclaimed "Come, now let us get you in your own set of clothes!"

And with that, the three-headed to the mall of shopping. There, the headed to the clothing store where they got Donna her own set of clothes. Once finished, she came out in a pair of pink tennis shoes, white socks, light blue jeans, Polybius's jacket, which he let her keep and just bought another one, a blue tee-shirt, and she also did her hair back in one long ponytail.

"How do I look?" Donna asked the two Titan as she stepped out of the changing room.

"Gorgeous!" Starfire declared.

The mute Titan gave a smile with two thumbs up.

"Thanks." Donna replied.

"Come, friend!" Starfire said "Let us show you around Jump City! This place has so many wonderful things to see and do!"

After hitting up the mall, the trio then made their way outside to the park. The same park Polybius and Wonder Woman had fought each other in months ago. The city had done a quick clean up of the park and restored it. It looked quite nice now that it wasn't in ruins.

The tree took a nice stroll through the park, stopping on a bench by the fountain in the center of it. There weren't many people there as it was a weekday and they had better things to do.

However, there was one lovely face there that Polybius knew all too well.

"Hey, you!" The voice called out.

The trio looked over to see the guy whose arm had been broken by Polybius twice now approaching them, with girlfriend number three.

The mute Titan rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"Polybius?" Starfire asked, "Who is this?"

The mute Titan shrugged his shoulders as he didn't actually know his name. He only knew exactly what he was about to do and what was about to happen.

"Get over here loser!" He shouted.

"How dare you-" Starfire started before getting cut off by Polybius.

The mute Titan put up a hand to stop the alien girl. She looked at him and he nodded before walking off to meet the guy.

"Man, it looks like we have the lame Robin again!" The teen shouted.

The mute Titan rolled his eyes and began moving his finger in a circle, hoping he would speed it up to the part where Polybius broke his arm again.

"You're in for a real surprise this time lameo!" The teen said "I've been taking karate classes! So now I'll for sure kick your butt."

The mute Titan unenthusiastically slow clapped as he waited for the punch.

"Now my last two girls have left me because of you, but it looks like I can steal two away from you!" The teen said looking at the two girls over at the bench.

"Hey!" Donna and Starfire shouted at the same time, but Polybius put up a hand to stop them.

"Now they can watch as I kick your butt!" The teen shouted.

The teen then tried to throw a right punch at Polybius, only to, for the third time, have it caught by the mute.

"Not again…" The teen begged.

The mute Titan smiled as he quickly got to work. Reaching back, Polybius pulled out his stone club and with one hard hit on the arm, Polybius broke it.

"Ow!" The teen shouted as the arm bent out at an angle it should never bend.

Polybius then let go of the teen's hand as he dropped to the ground.

"I told you it was a bad idea." Girlfriend number three said before looking up at Polybius.

She then seductively approached Polybius and got close to him.

"You know. If you dump them for me, I'll do anything you want in bed." She said seductively, and loud enough for the girls on the bench to hear while also slipping her phone number written on a Chipotle napkin into his hand.

Donna and Starfire both shared a mixed look of shock and disgust at girlfriend number three's words. However, Polybius, by this point, expecting it, replied by putting a hand over her face as she tried to move in for a kiss. Then with using minimal effort, pushed her away from him and walked back over to the other three.

"Call me!" She shouted.

The mute Titan then proceeded to crumble up the napkin and throw it over his shoulder as he walked away. Girlfriend number three's jaw dropped when she saw him do this.

"You asshole!" The girl shouted as Polybius joined his friends.

The mute Titan then motioned for the group to leave. However, the other two had questions.

"Who was that?" Starfire asked.

The mute Titan then pulled out his phone and explained that this guy had tried attacking him three times now. Each time Polybius didn't press charges, but each time he would break the teen's arm, the girlfriend would go for him, he would reject the girl, and he'd leave.

"Wait." Donna said, "This is the third time you two have gone through this?"

The mute Titan nodded.

"Sounds to me like someone needs to put him in his place." Donna commented.

Polybius then motioned again for the trio to leave and the took off, leaving the teen in agony. While Polybius cared enough to get help for him the first time, this time he couldn't be bothered to do it. The way he saw it if the teen was dumb enough to attack a Teen Titan, the guy who fought off Wonder Woman to a draw, and had a reputation for being the most malleable person alive, and had powers that could snap his whole body like a twig, was beyond help.

**3rd time is the charm, right? Maybe this guy will learn. Maybe not.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a good rest of your day!**


	19. Chapter 19: Strange World

_Chapter 19_

_Strange World..._

As the trio headed over to the pizza place that the Titans loved to hit up. And as they moved Donna couldn't help but look around in awe. The massive buildings rising higher than any bird could fly. The cars passing by and the people doing their thing. She couldn't believe the world she was seeing. That her two new friends lived in!

"There it is!" Starfire said happily "Our favorite pizza place!"

The trio then made their way across the street and over to the building. Taking the spot the Titan usually took when they visited, they took a seat.

"Please friend Donna." Starfire said, "What would you like on your pizza?"

"Pizza?" Donna asked "Uh, I don't know. Get me whatever you usually get."

The mute Titan quickly went wide-eyed and shook his head, but it seemed to be too late.

"Well then, we shall have a pizza with bananas, pickles, and mint frosting!" Starfire declared with a large smile on her face.

The mute Titan then facepalmed. The slap of the hand on his face was loud enough to get the other two's attention.

"Is something wrong Polybius?" Starfire asked.

Before the mute Titan could answer, all three of them heard an explosion accompanied by loud screams of terror as people began running away from the blast. The trio looked down to see a fast-rising cloud of smoke coming from the middle of the street.

"Come Polybius!" Starfire said, "Let's us g-"

The alien princess was cut off when she looked over and saw Donna.

"Friend Donna, you stay here!" Starfire ordered "We will handle this! This won't take long, I promise!"

"R- Right." Donna replied somewhat nervously.

The mute Titan and the alien princess quickly hopped down and faced whatever was in the stack of smoke. But what came out of the smoke caused everyone looking at it to go wide-eyed.

From the smoke, a creature walked out. The first thing they saw was a DJ table that hung at waist level that was hung over the body by several straps so it laid flat. However, as the creature stepped out of the smoke, it revealed that it was wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt, looking like a rather normal DJ. However, what was weird was that the shirt seemed to be tightly hugging his body as if it were apart of his skin and not a shirt. And along his chest were two bars of speakers running parallel to its arms. Yet what was scary about the monster is the last thing that was revealed is that it had a big box speaker for a head.

"What is that!?" Starfire shouted with fear audible in her voice.

The mute Titan resolved to pull out his flare gun and aim it at the creature.

"O." The creature's speakers began to play.

"O."

A pause.

"O."

Polybius couldn't help but notice how normal it sounded despite the creature's decrepit appearance.

"Orileeeeeys Auto parts!" The creature's head speaker went on.

"What?" Starfire questioned.

"OW!" The creature blasted extremely loud, causing the sound wave to hit the two Titans, sending them flying backwards.

As the two picked themselves up, the creature then began to play a trap remix of the Orileys commercial jingle. Every "O" or "Ow" causing a new soundwave to be blasted from its head speaker.

Starfire quickly flew high and launched a barrage of Starbolts at the creature while Polybius also fired his flare gun. However, one due to the poor coordination between the two, one of Starfire's bolts accidentally hit the flare before it hit the creature. And while the subsequent explosion did send the creature flying, Polybius found himself nearly caught up in the fire.

"Sorry!" Starfire called out.

The mute Titan just gave a thumbs-up as it would have seemed the creature would have been defeated. This caused Starfire to touch back on the ground, only for the two to then get hit with the loudest "Oreilly's" to ever be heard.

Both Polybius and Starfire found themselves caught in the massive soundwave that barreled its way through the smoke, taking both off guard. This again, caused both Titan to get sent flying backwards, this time, into the buildings behind them. In the process, Polybius lost ahold on his flare gun, and it went flying in a different direction.

Not wasting any time, as the creature began to reveal itself through the smoke, Polybius was quick to reach in his bag and draw the first weapon he grabbed. Which just so happened to be his climbing ax.

Holding the ax, the mute Titan was quick to charge the creature as it continued to blast the trap remix. Polybius wasn't a huge fan of trap and would have been more than happy to shut it up.

However just as the mute Titan came upon it, it suddenly turned his direction and hit him with another "Oriley's."

Again, being sent backwards, the mute Titan lost grip of his climbing ax and skidded across the concrete.

Starfire meanwhile, flew high over the creature and began showering it with Starbolts again. She had worked on her aim over the course of the past eleven months with the Titans, and most of her starbolts were hitting. This caused the creature to stumble and she actually managed to break one of the discs.

The creature seemed to get angered by Starfire breaking one of its disks and quickly blasted her with an "O."

Starfire dogged the wave as the two began to exchange Starbolts and sound waves. Polybius meanwhile, taking advantage of the time, the mute Titan dug through his backpack and grabbed hold of his stone club. And once the creature had its back turned to the mute, Polybius wasted no time and charged it.

Not seeing the hit coming, Polybius took a hard swing at the creature's head, in an attempt to disable it. And while Polybius hit the speaker, he wasn't expecting it to shatter on impact.

As the speaker on the head of the creature shattered, it threw both of its hands up in the air and stumbled forward into the smoke from which it came.

Once it did, Polybius swapped over to his thermal vision, causing his eyes to turn grey. However, looking into the smoke, it would have seemed that the creature vanished.

The mute Titan then swapped back over to his normal vision and the smoke, as if on a cue, quickly dissipated, revealing that it had taken the creature with it.

"What was that!?" Starfire asked.

The mute Titan relaxed as he shrugged his shoulders. He then pulled out his notebook and explained that whatever it was it disappeared with the smoke.

"Do you think it'll return?" Starfire asked.

The mute Titan shook his head. Unless the creature got a new stereo on its head, it wasn't going to be a threat anytime soon.

Looking down at the two from the pizza place, Donna had watched as the two selflessly sacrificed themselves and thrown themselves in danger. Not only for her but for everyone. She couldn't help but wonder why? Why did they get up every day and do that?

"You're welcome people of Jump City!" She heard Starfire shout as the locals began applauding the two's efforts.

It wasn't long after that, that the two Titans rejoined the girl up at the pizza place. Once they sat back down, she had questions for them.

"What was that?" Was the first one.

As neither Titan knew, they could not give her an answer.

"Okay." Donna said, "But why?"

"Why what?" Starfire questioned as Polybius grew a confused look "We do not understand your question."

"Why did you guys just throw yourselves at that monster?" Donna asked.

"Because that is our job." Starfire said, "We are heroes, and it is what we must do."

"No." Donna said "I mean, why do you fight? Why do you risk your lives for these people? Those ones we saw back at the park seemed so ungrateful."

"Yes, not everyone is happy to have us. We do it for the greater good of all." Starfire said.

Polybius then put a hand up and used his notebook to explain Donna's real question.

"Oh!" Starfire said, "You want to know why we fight!"

Both Titans thought about their answers for a moment before answering. Starfire explained her reasons first.

"Well, when I came to this world, I had been taken as a slave by the Gordianians, but escaped them before they could take me to the market." Starfire started "And when I came to this planet, I did not know anyone or anything. However, I soon met Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Polybius, and Raven. They explained to me that they were trying to be nice and help me. My people do not have a word for nice, so at the time I was confused by what it meant. However, after they saved me from Lord Trogaar. That, combined with the fact that the people of this planet adopted me as one of their own has shown me that they are really nice. And I do not want to see that niceness destroyed so I have resolved to become a Teen Titan and fight to keep this world nice!"

"So you fight to keep things nice?" Donna asked, wanting to make sure she understood what Starfire was saying.

"Exactly!" Starfire confirmed.

Both eyes then shifted to Polybius. He texted Starfire his answer and she read it out loud.

"My reason is that in my short 16 years alive, I have been through a lot. More than most people will go through in their lifetime. Therefore, I have resolved to fight not for me. Because I could care less as to what happens to me, but rather because I don't want what happened to me to happen to others."

Donna's eyes got a little bit wider as she soaked in his reason. Starfire too was surprised to hear this as she had never heard him say anything about why he fought.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry to hear bad things have happened to you!" Starfire said sympathetically.

"Yeah." Donna said "But to get up and fight for that reason. That has to be the most selfless thing I have ever heard."

"Agreed." Starfire added.

The mute Titan shrugged his shoulders. Luckily for the trio, Polybius had already ordered a large meat lover's pizza for the two girls. They were quick to dig in, but Donna couldn't get his reason off her mind.

"Because I don't want what happened to me to happen to others."

Those words really spoke to her. More than either Starfire or Polybius realized.

After the two girls finished the pizza, they headed back into town and showed Donna around. And as the sun began to go down, Starfire decided that the trio should head to the carnival. And while Polybius wasn't a fan of the idea, Donna seemed to want to go, so he too tagged along with them.

Screwing around in the carnival was quite amusing for the trio of friends. While Polybius was never a fan of them, Starfire was extremely insistent on going. Ever since her little Ferris Wheel ride with Robin the night Blackfire had shown up, she had always wanted to go back. The sad part about it was, it was just never the right time for the team as getting caught up with Slade and Montezuma and a slew of other things kept them from heading back.

However, as day turned to night, and all of the lights came on, Starfire became even more eager to go back. She even called up the rest of the team to join them on what seemed like things would be quiet in the city for the rest of the day. However, they would never show, all citing different reasons as to why they couldn't make it.

However, as time went by, the three began to settle down. They took a seat on one of the benches overlooking the ocean.

As Starfire had to use the restroom, this left Polybius and Donna alone for a short while.

"Hey, Polybius?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan looked over at her.

"I just want to say, thank you." Donna said "Not for just taking care of the bills, or hanging out with me, or even just saving me. But for everything."

Polybius gave his characteristically warm smile.

"I must say, both you and Starfire are the nicest people I have ever met. And what both of you have been doing for me means a lot to me." Donna went on.

The mute Titan began to rub her back.

"Still." She went on "What Montezuma did to me still terrifies me. And how he did so many horrible things to me."

The mute Titan then put his other hand on hers.

"It just, there are times, mostly when you and Starfire have to go on a mission and I'm left alone. I can't stop thinking about him. How he abused me, taunted me. How he kidnapped me and attacked my home. Everything he did all because I'm the descendant of some guy named Hernán Cortés."

The mute Titan then stopped her and pulled out his notebook. He then wrote down something that shocked her.

"You're saying that I'm not a descendant of him!?" Donna asked shocked.

The mute Titan shook his head. Cyborg's DNA tests proved that she doesn't even have any Spanish blood in her.

"Then why did he do it!?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan shrugged his shoulders.

"It must have been his Sun God." Donna commented.

The mute Titan then shot her a confused look. She quickly picked up on his confusion and explained.

"While I was in his captivity, he often talked to what he called his 'Sun God.' I never heard nor saw anything, thinking he was only talking to himself. But he would carry full-blown conversations with this figure, almost always about me of course. But still. It was weird and creepy."

The mute Titan thought about this. Maybe Montezuma was a schizophrenic and just needed help. Then again, that wouldn't explain how he managed to find Paradise Island so easily with it being protected by magic.

"I have returned friends!" Starfire greeted as she rejoined the two.

"Hey Star!" Donna greeted "So where are we going next?"

"Well friend, we actually need to be getting back home." Starfire said, "It is getting late, and we must get back before Cyborg activates the lockdown."

"Aw." Donna said, "And to think we were having so much fun."

"And we will have just as much fun tomorrow if not even more!" Starfire assured her.

"Promise?" Donna asked.

"Of course!" Starfire said, "And maybe we can get the others to come and join us!"

"That sounds delightful!" Donna said.

And with that, the trio headed back to Titan tower. Once there, they headed up to the main room where Robin was awaiting him.

"Greetings friend Robin!" Starfire greeted.

"Why didn't you follow the creature?" Robin cut straight to the point.

"Hm?" Starfire asked.

"The creature that attacked you guys." Robin said, "You didn't even attempt to track it down."

"It vanished." Starfire said "Polybius said the creature disappeared with the smoke. And even then, he disabled the creature from doing further harm by destroying the stereo on its head."

Robin soaked in this information and thought about it for a moment.

"Alright." Robin said lighting upon the two before turning to Donna "So Donna, how was your day?"

"Absolutely wonderful!" She replied with a smile on her face "I can't wait to do more tomorrow!"

"Glad to hear." Robin replied, "Why don't you go get washed up."

"Good idea." The girl replied as she took off to the restroom.

"I will show you where it is!" Starfire said quickly rushing to her side.

The two male Titans watched as the two females walked away and down the hall.

"You know, you two have a lot in common." Robin said.

The mute Titan looked over at Robin with a confused look. However, the masked leader didn't respond.

"So, did you learn anything about Montezuma today?" Robin then asked.

The mute Titan then used his phone to text Robin all that he had learned about the man today. And how Polybius thought that he may be a schizophrenic and may have just needed help. And as he was texting this over to Robin, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy joined them.

"A schizophrenic?" Robin asked.

"Actually, considering everything we've heard about him, and with what Donna said, that would make sense." Raven agreed "And since it really seems like he does possess great power, as well as if he is magical, that may explain why he has been able to disappear and how he got to Paradise Island."

The mute Titan didn't even think about that. With Montezuma's magic would explain almost everything.

The only thing it didn't is why Montezuma disguised himself as Polybius.

"That I can't answer." Raven replied "His 'Sun God' may have told him to do it, or he bought a potion off the black market."

"They sell potions on the black market?" Beast Boy asked.

"They sell everything on the black market." Cyborg answered.

"Well if Montezuma is a schizophrenic, then we shouldn't be fighting him." Robin said, "We should be getting him help."

"How?" Cyborg asked, "Every time the dude appears, he vanishes for months on end, only to reappear and cause more mass suffering."

"I don't know." Robin replied, "Maybe Raven can cast a spell on him to keep him from doing that?"

"Without knowing what he is using, which we didn't find any potions in his home, then I can't do much." Raven replied.

"Which means he has a second location." Cyborg said, "That has to be where he is conducting his operations."

"Then we will keep an eye out for him." Robin said, "However, for now, let's just focus on bringing down Slade and helping Donna."

Both Cyborg and Beast Boy giggle nervously.

"What are you two laughing about?" Robin asked.

The mute Titan wasted no time filling in Robin on what had happened over text.

"Seriously?" Robin asked.

"Hey man, we didn't know she was on the other side of the door!" Cyborg quickly defended.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said "It was just guy talk. The three of us do it all the time! Without Polybius, or course."

Robin just shook his head at the two.

"You owe her." Robin said.

"Yeah, Starfire already told us that." Cyborg replied "Speaking of which, Polybius, did you and Donna reconcile?"

The mute Titan nodded.

"Oh thank goodness!" Both Cyborg and Beast Boy said at the same time.

"We would have felt horrible if we burned that bridge for you." Beast Boy said for the two of them.

"Yeah." Cyborg concurred.

"Anyway." Raven said cutting them off "Where is Donna sleeping tonight?"

"On the couch like Terra did." Robin answered.

The mute Titan then shook his head.

"No?" Robin asked, "Where do you have in mind?"

The mute Titan then expressed over text that he'll sleep on the couch for the next few weeks and she was more than welcomed to use his bed. So long as she was willing to.

"Oh look at you, Polybius." Cyborg teased "Being a gentleman."

The mute Titan just rolled his eyes at Cyborg and Beast Boy who began snickering.

"More than you two ever are." Raven commented in defense of Polybius.

"Dang!" Robin said loudly "Raven coming out with simple yet deep cutting roasts!"

The mute Titan silently chuckled as Cyborg and Beast Boy grumbled.

"Yeah! Well, at least Cyborg here's got a girlfriend!" Beast Boy countered.

"And that gives you hope because?" Raven asked.

"I- I got Terra!" Beast Boy defended.

"Not yet." Raven said, "I don't remember her ever saying yes or no to you."

"Maybe if you come out of your room once in a while!" Beast Boy countered.

Polybius, Cyborg, and Robin watched as the two went back, being prepared to step in if things got too out of hand.

"And look where we are now." Raven answered.

"A- uh." Beast Boy stuttered, unable to come up with a comeback.

Raven gave the green teen a small smile and said "You're getting better. But still, you need a lot of work." before walking away.

"I'll get you someday." Beast Boy replied.

Later that night, Polybius and Donna walked down the hall towards his room.

"And you are certain that it is alright that I sleep in your bed?" Donna asked nervously "You don't have to do this for me. I'm fine with sleeping on the couch and you've already done far more than enough for me."

The mute Titan shook his head as the two came upon his room.

Upon opening the door, Donna took a look around the rather empty room.

"Wow." Donna commented "Kinda spacious."

The mute Titan nodded as he entered his room.

"Nice bear head." Donna commented looking at the animal head on the wall.

The mute Titan smiled proudly remembering that day. And to think one of the first things he did as a hero was to rediscover a previously thought to be extinct species and bring it back from the dead. He would have to take Donna to the zoo sometime to show her the bear cubs.

The mute Titan looked over at his rocking chair and took a seat in it. Just a few days before saving Donna, he bought a second rocking chair for anybody who wanted to come and sit with him. And have some relaxing one on one time with him. The second sat about ten feet away from his.

The mute Titan then motioned for her to take a seat. The Amazon then took a seat next to him and looked out the window.

"What a beautiful view." Donna commented.

The mute Titan nodded as he began rocking back and forth in his chair. The two enjoyed some time together in silence before Donna yawned. This prompted Polybius to stand up and head to the door to allow her to get to sleep.

"Wait!" Donna called out before Polybius could leave his room.

"You'll still be here, right?" Donna asked "This isn't just some dream and you'll be here tomorrow when I wake up? Right?"

The mute Titan gave the girl a warm smile and nodded his head.

"Good." Donna replied, "I don't think I could have taken Montezuma's torture any longer."

And with that, Polybius left the girl alone and headed to the main room where he found Cyborg working on the main computer.

"Hey, Polybius." Cyborg said, "Just preparing the system for some big updates tonight before I head off to charge up."

The mute Titan smiled as he took a seat on the sofa.

"Hey, uh, I just wanted to say sorry for today." Cyborg said "You know, teasing you about Donna. And nearly destroying your friendship with her."

The mute Titan just waved it off. He knew Cyborg and Beast Boy liked to tease him about girls. And while he had zero interest in dating anyone, he still felt a strong connection to Donna.

"You sure you're not mad?" Cyborg asked "It can be hard to tell with you. Harder than Raven because, well, ya know."

The mute Titan smiled and nodded.

"Good." Cyborg said "Tomorrow, BB and I are going to make it up to her. Don't know how yet, but we are."

The mute Titan nodded as he laid down on the sofa.

"Say, before you go to sleep, I've got a question for you." Cyborg said.

The mute Titan looked over at him and awaited his question.

"When I was talkin to Star earlier about your day, she said that the reason you fight is because you don't want what happened to you to happen to other people." Cyborg said, "I'm not gonna ask you what happened to you, but I am gonna ask you if something really bad were to happen to you right now concerning your past, would you feel comfortable talking about it with us?"

This question took the mute Titan off guard. He had never really thought about that because he didn't like to think about his past and all of the horrors that came with it.

After thinking about the question for a long moment, the mute Titan shrugged his shoulders.

"Situation dependent?" Cyborg asked.

The mute Titan nodded. That was probably the truest answer he could give.

"That's good to hear." Cyborg said, "Just know that if anything is ever bothering you bad enough, I, as well as the rest of the team, are always here to talk to you."

The mute Titan smiled as the mechanical Titan went on.

"And I know that we don't always give you the time you need to respond, and we don't always treat you right. And I keep saying that we are going to treat you better, but then I feel like we don't. But please just remember that it's all in good fun. And when push comes to shove, we'll be there for you! And don't you ever doubt that!"

And with that, Cyborg finished up setting up all of the updates.

"Good night Polybius." Cyborg said, "See you tomorrow."

And with that, Polybius allowed himself to drift off into the realm of sleep.

Yet not even five minutes after falling asleep, his phone awoke him. He picked it up to see it was a text from Wonder Woman. What inconvenient timing. However, he knew he needed to respond, so he unlocked his phone and looked at the text message.

'How's Donna doing?' Wonder Woman texted.

'She's doing great!' Polybius replied.

'Can I speak with her?' Wonder Woman asked.

'She's asleep.' Polybius texted back.

'Okay.' Wonder Woman replied.

'Anything else?' Polybius asked.

'No. Just keep her safe.' Diana replied.

'Of course. After everything she's been through, the last thing I want is for her to get hurt.' Polybius texted.

'Everything she's been through?' Wonder Woman shot back.

At that moment, the mute Titan realized that he had yet to inform the Amazonian heroine of everything that Donna had been through. This was the first time they had contacted each other since the day Donna was rescued.

'Oh boy. There is a lot to go over.' Polybius texted back, hoping she'd let him go.

'Tell me!' Wonder Woman demanded, much to the disappointment of Polybius.

'Alright. She has been beaten, tortured, verbally, physically and emotionally abused.' Polybius put it shortly and bluntly.

'Anything else!?' Wonder Woman demanded.

'Do you want detail?' Polybius asked.

'Everything.' Wonder Woman demanded.

The mute Titan then proceeded to list every single torture device they found, all of her injuries when the found her, and how broken she was when he found her.

'By the gods…' Wonder Woman replied.

'Did I mention that he ALMOST raped her too?' Polybius questioned.

'RAPED!?' Wonder Woman quickly replied back.

'Almost.' Polybius texted again.

'Almost?' Diana asked.

'I swooped in at the last moment and saved her. I think after he would have finished satisfying himself, Montezuma was going to sacrifice her to the 'Sun God.' Or at least that's what Donna says.' Polybius replied.

'Sun God?' Wonder Woman questioned.

'Donna said he talked extensively to some sort of Sun God only he could hear.' Polybius replied.

'That's strange. The men who attacked Paradise Island referred to a mistress. If I remember correctly, the Aztec Sun God is a male yes?' Wonder Woman shot back.

'Correct. This has led me to come to the conclusion that he is both magical and a schizophrenic. It seems to explain everything that happened. From how he has been able to disappear, found your island, summoned an army, and made himself look like me. And of course, all of this was spearheaded by the 'Sun God' in his head.' Polybius explained over text.

'That explains a lot, but doesn't excuse his actions!' Wonder Woman asserted.

'It doesn't. But with all of the evidence we have, he really needs help more than anything.' Polybius replied.

'And locked up too.' Diana added.

'In a psychiatric hospital, yes.' Polybius agreed.

'I assume he's headed that way now?' Wonder Woman asked.

At that moment, Polybius also realized that he hadn't told her that Montezuma had gotten away.

'About that… After I kicked his teeth in and beat the hell out of him, I turned my back on him to free Donna. He didn't seem to be conscious at the time, so I didn't think he was going anywhere considering I threw him through a concrete wall. However, once the team came down and joined me and Donna down in the basement where he was, I looked back to see that he vanished again.' Polybius replied.

'You mean he got away!?' Wonder Woman replied.

'Yes.' Polybius responded.

'You incompetent idiot! How could you let him get away!?' Wonder Woman demanded.

'Now hold on, there is no need to get rude.' Polybius texted back.

'You let him get away!' Wonder Woman shot back.

'And we're going to track him down. However, for the sake of right now, Donna has the best protection she could possibly have. And considering everything else, he's more than likely not to show his face for a while.' Polybius replied.

'You are so lucky I'm busy right now.' Wonder Woman replied.

Before Polybius could reply back, Donna walked in and interrupted him.

"Polybius?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan looked up as his phone continued to blow up with texts from Wonder Woman. The mute Titan was glad she was here so she could talk to her sister herself.

'Donna's awake and here.' Polybius suddenly texted before calling.

"What are you doing?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan then motioned for her to come over to where he was. From there, Donna took a seat next to him as he put it on speakerphone.

"Donna?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Diana?" Donna replied, happiness rising in her voice.

"I'm so glad to hear your voice!" Diana replied, "Are you alright!?"

"Yes sister, I'm fine. Polybius and Starfire have been taking good care of me." Donna replied.

"You mean the man who let Montezuma get away!" Wonder Woman spat back.

"Now hold on." Donna said "Polybius gave Montezuma a really nasty beating. He knocked him out like a light when he threw him through the wall. And I think what happened is his magic somehow teleported him to a safe place when he got knocked out."

"Oh…" Diana replied, calming down considerably "Well then, please, tell Polybius that I am quite sorry."

"He's got you on speaker." Donna replied.

"Oh, um, alright." Diana said a little awkwardly "I'm sorry I lashed out at you like that Polybius, just after everything Montezuma has done, you can understand why I'm so upset about him getting away."

The mute Titan gave a thumbs up.

"He says it's all good." Donna replied for him.

"Oh thank goodness." Wonder Woman replied "Anyway, I'll be there as soon as I can to pick you up and take you home sister. I'm just busy right now and can't spare the time to take you home."

"It's fine." Donna replied "Polybius has been making sure I have felt quite at home here. So take your time. I'm quite enjoying myself here with the Titans."

"That's good to hear." Wonder Woman replied "Well, I've got to get going. Have a good rest sister. I will see you very soon."

"I can't wait." Donna replied.

Polybius then hung up the phone. He gave the girl a thumbs up to thank her for the save.

"Your welcome." Donna replied knowing exactly what he meant "Anyway, I came out here just to get some water. You please tell me where the cups are?"

After getting Donna a glass of water, she was quick to go back to his room to sleep. He meanwhile laid down on the couch and finally went to sleep.

**And there you have it! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a good rest of your day!**


	20. Chapter 20: Last Day

_Chapter 20_

_Last Day..._

After Cyborg and Beast Boy gave Donna a breakfast supreme surprise explosion to apologize for what they had done, she quickly became friends with everyone. And while she was much closer to Polybius and Starfire than the others, she still got along great with everybody. Her presence in the tower had become a very warm and welcomed one.

Yet, as all good things had to, it had to come to an end. Wonder Woman had texted Polybius explaining that the league had finally taken care of all of the space rocks and she would be down right after sunset to come and pick up Donna and take her home.

And thus, after an early morning mission taking care of Dr. Light and on their way back to the tower, Starfire had an idea.

Everybody in the team knew that today would be more than likely the last time they ever saw Donna and her last day in their world. And so, Starfire wanted to make it super special.

Once the team got back to the tower, they found Donna awake and watching the TV. She was watching the group in their small engagement with Dr. Light, which Raven ended very quickly because he was terrified of her.

"Hello, friend Donna!" Starfire greeted.

"Hey, guys." Donna greeted as she turned to face them "So what are we doing today?"

"That is a surprise!" Starfire said, "Come, let us not waste any of your time!"

The team then spent their day spoiling Donna. They decided that they would each hit up their favorite places to go and spend about an hour or so there.

First up was Robin's. And while he wasn't exactly the one to spend his free time doing 'fun' things, he did have one place he liked to go to. And that place was the boxing ring in town.

"So this is where you go when you head into town alone." Cyborg said as the crew took their seats.

"Only sometimes." Robin replied, "Usually I like to go by myself and get away from everybody, but I suppose this time I'll make an exception."

The mute Titan sat on the end with Donna on his right, and some random guy on his left.

"Hey, babe." The guy said looking over at Donna "How about you and I crash this joint and have some fun back at my place."

Donna and Polybius both looked over at him, Donna having a more disgusted look on her face and Polybius a more angry one.

"No." Donna said, taking Polybius's hand.

"Aw come on!" The fat guy said, "I'll do things for you that this pretty boy can't."

"No!" Donna asserted louder, gaining the attention of the other Titans.

"You sure?" The man said, "I'm sure I can impress you with my massive co-"

"She said no!" Raven cut in "Now leave her alone."

"Otherwise things are gonna get ugly." Cyborg finished.

All of the Titans gave the man an angered look. He quickly got nervous and backed down. He then left the arena, leaving the seat next to Polybius open for the match.

The boxing match was actually a rather good one between two of the top-ranked fighters in the state. Polybius didn't know who either of them were, but it was certainly a good show. One that both he and Donna enjoyed.

"Yes!" Robin said in triumph "My fighter won!"

This caused everyone to look at the leader with confused looks on their face.

"You bet?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes." Robin answered with no shame in his voice "How else do you guys think I make all of my personal cash?"

Nobody really held that against him, and it was clear he was good at picking fighters as Robin always had extra on-hand cash.

"Where to next?" Donna asked as the team exited the stadium.

"The arcade!" Beast Boy said.

Jump City was one of the last places in America you could still find a working arcade. In fact, the Arcade had become more successful in recent years due to it being one of the last. The retro 80s style building made it a popular destination for both locals and tourists alike.

The mute Titan stopped short of the building.

"You're not coming in?" Donna asked.

"He can't." Cyborg explained, "Video games make him sick."

"Yeah." Beast Boy said, "He threw up last time he played one."

"Oh…" Donna said quite disappointed.

"Don't worry friend!" Starfire assured her "He will be waiting for us as soon as we come out!"

The mute Titan could tell Donna wasn't happy about him not being able to go in. And seeing this, the mute Titan shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to ruin the day just because he got sick. If he threw up, he was going to have a headache with it for a few hours and that would surely ruin the whole day.

The mute Titan walked over to a bench just outside of the arcade and watched the traffic pass by.

"Oh boy!" A familiar voice only he could hear say "Looks like you got yourself a real nice friend there."

The mute Titan looked over to see Darkbius sitting next to him on the bench.

"It's sad to see her go." Darkbius said, "Seems like she's your only genuine friend around here."

The mute Titan just waved off the darker version of himself.

"You don't believe me!?" Darkbius asked surprised.

The mute Titan nodded. He knew how good his friends were to him. Even if they didn't think so.

"That's a problem." Darkbius said.

And with that, the darker Polybius vanished.

The mute Titan didn't have to wait long for the team to return. From there, they headed out to the race track. Apparently, there was somebody out there who claimed they built a faster car than Cyborg's. Naturally, Cyborg wanted to put this to the test and the other person agreed.

"Well hop in Donna." Cyborg offered "Raven said she'll stay in the stands, so there is a seat for you right next to Polybius."

"Thank you!" Donna said happily as she took the seat next to Polybius.

After pulling up to the starting line, Cyborg revved up his engine. And the other guy did exactly the same. This signified that both of them were bound and determined to race.

"How fast can this thing go?" Donna asked.

"Faster than any car on the planet." Cyborg assured her.

And with that, the countdown began for the race.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"GO!" The buzzer sounded.

And with that, the two racers took off at blinding speeds. The car next to the Titan's was fast but not as fast as it claimed to be.

"Come on!" Cyborg said, "Tat the best you can do?"

"He really likes racing, doesn't he?" Donna asked her fellow backseat passengers.

"Cyborg loves speed." Beast Boy answered, "He loves going faster than anybody else."

Donna then looked out the window and saw everything just flashing by in a blur. She had never gone this fast in her life and it was a thrilling experience.

As the two vehicles came up on the finish line, Cyborg then really kicked it into high gear and left the other racer in the dust and claimed victory.

"Aw yeah!" Cyborg declared in victory "We won!"

After collecting their winnings from the race, the team then headed out to the library.

"Here?" Starfire questioned Raven.

"You said to take her to our favorite places." Raven said, "And this is my favorite place."

"It'll be a nice spot to catch our breath." Robin said, "We can break for lunch afterwards, do Star's and Polybius's thing and then whatever Donna wants to do afterwards."

And with that, the team headed into the library. They looked around through the books for a long while, taking a quick peek at any titles that looked interesting. Yet nothing really grabbed Donna's attention.

Yet there was one close call.

"Fifty Shades of Grey?" Donna asked looking at the book.

The mute Titan heard her ask this as he was looking at a historical fiction book about Ancient Rome. he quickly spun around to see that she was holding the book in her hand. Without hesitation, the mute quickly grabbed the book and threw it down the aisle like a frisbee.

"What was that for?" Donna asked, "Was it a bad book?"

The mute Titan gave a huge nod.

"Oh." Donna said, "Why is it so bad?"

The mute Titan then used his notepad app he had downloaded to explain that the only reason it was a romance novel was because the guy was a billionaire. If he was dirt poor and lived in a trailer park, it would be an episode of Criminal Minds.

"Oh…" Donna replied, "I see."

Luckily for the two of them, it wasn't long after that, that they all exited the library and headed to their favorite pizza place. Once there, they ordered two pizzas instead of the usual one and dug in.

"So, Donna." Beast Boy started with his mouth full of food "You enjoying yourself."

"Very much!" Donna replied.

"Good." Robin said, his mouth not full of food "I hope we can make your last day in man's world as fun as possible."

"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed "Before you have to go back to chastity belt island."

Polybius entered a silent laughing fit when the green teen said that. The others too at the table found it quite humorous except Donna and Starfire.

"Please." Starfire asked the two of them "What is a belt of chastity?"

She didn't get an answer immediately as the Titans laughed.

"That was good Beast Boy." Cyborg said, "That was good."

"I have to admit, that one was actually funny." Raven agreed.

"Will someone please explain what a chastity belt is?" Donna asked.

"It's something men used to put on their wives and daughters when they had to leave for long periods of time. Such as when they went to war or an extended diplomatic mission. And when the women wore these, it was supposed to prevent them from having sex and being unfaithful while he was away." Raven explained, "Of course, there were belts made for men as well, but they are more synonymous with women cause of the movies."

"That's absurd!" Donna asserted.

"They aren't used that much these days." Cyborg said, "Well unless you're into BDSM or things along those lines."

"BDSM?" Donna asked for both her and Starfire.

The other four Titans exchanged looks with each other before all shaking their heads.

"No." Robin said, "You can learn that on your own time."

"Polybius?" Starfire asked, "What does BDSM mean?"

"Yeah?" Donna asked, knowing the mute was most likely to cave to her.

"You know, there are some things that you may be better off not knowing." Cyborg said.

"Yeah." Raven agreed "Not all truths are worth going after."

"Oh?" Donna asked.

"Just trust us when we say you don't want to know what it means." Robin said.

"If you say so." Donna replied.

Pushing past that awkward conversation, the team finished their pizza and hurriedly left. This time they headed to the zoo.

"Oh, I love the zoo!" Starfire said as the seven entered "It has so many lovely creatures! And the petting zoo is the best!"

As the team made their way around the zoo, Polybius couldn't help but stop and look at the California Grizzly Bears.

Now that it had been a long while since the day he fought that bear, the cubs had been doing very well in captivity. The mute Titan was surprised to see how fast they had grown over the course of the time that had passed.

"So these are the bear cubs you found after you fought that bear?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan nodded.

"Good thing you did." Donna said, "Not, killing the mom, but bringing the species back from the dead."

The mute Titan nodded.

"Of course, if there is a momma bear, then there has to be a daddy bear somewhere out there, right?" Donna asked.

Again, the mute Titan nodded.

While the idea had been floated around a long while ago, the idea of hunting the other bear was rejected seeing as it would take up too much time for the Titans. And quite frankly, if it wasn't causing any problems, then it really wasn't a concern of the Titans.

After walking through the zoo, the Titans gathered up at the exit and discussed their next plan of action.

"So where are we off to next?" Beast Boy asked.

"That's up to Polybius." Robin said.

The team then found themselves headed out to the forest.

"The forest?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Polybius finds a lot of comfort here." Raven explained.

"Yes!" Starfire agreed "Reminds him of his home!"

The mute Titan smiled and nodded as he led the team to a trial.

The Titans and Donna had a nice walk through the forest. It was a rather quiet and peaceful one and overall a pleasant experience.

"So Donna." Robin said as the team finished the trail "Anything else you want to do?"

"No." Donna said, "Just spending time with you guys has been enough for me."

And with that, the team headed back to the tower. From there, it wasn't long until the sun began to set on the day, and Wonder Woman texted Polybius that she was on her way. She wanted to meet them on the roof.

"You ready Donna?" Starfire asked as she helped the girl pack up the last of her stuff.

"Yeah…" Donna replied, sadness evident in her voice.

"Do not be sad friend!" Starfire assured her.

"That's easy for you to say." Donna replied, "You get to stay here, with Polybius and the others while I have to go back."

"Yes." Starfire said, "But be happy that you got to experience this!"

The mute Titan then interrupted them to inform them that Wonder Woman was going to arrive any second.

"Do I have to go?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan hesitantly nodded. He didn't want her to go, but he knew she had to.

"Maybe if you talk to Diana, you can convince her to let you visit us!" Starfire offered.

"Like my mother will ever allow me to step foot off the island after what happened." Donna commented.

"You must be hopeful friend!" Starfire said.

Polybius's phone then went off.

"Is it her?" Starfire questioned.

The mute Titan nodded.

"Well then, let us not waste her time." Starfire said as the three began to make their way towards the roof.

Once there, they found Wonder Woman standing there waiting for them.

"Donna!" Diana said happily.

"Diana!" Donna returned happily.

The two exchanged a warm embrace before breaking apart.

"Ready to go home?" Diana asked.

Donna then looked back at Polybius and Starfire standing in front of the rest of the team.

"One moment." Donna said.

The younger Amazon then walked over to in front of the team.

"I just want to thank you guys for everything." Donna said, "Not just for today, but for everything you've done for me."

"It's no problem." Robin said "We're heroes. It's our job."

"I know." Donna said "And I really like seeing you help all those people. Helping me. Especially you Polybius. You've done so much for me. I don't think I can ever repay you for your kindness."

The mute Titan gave a warm smile.

"I'm gonna miss you guys." Donna finished with tears in her eyes "Goodbye."

The young Amazon then turned to her sister and quickly boarded the ship they had used to arrive. Wonder Woman, however, turned to Polybius.

"Yes. Again, thank you all." Wonder Woman said "Especially you Polybius. I am forever in your debt for what you have done."

The mute Titan gave an even bigger smile and a thumbs up.

Wonder Woman then turned towards her ship, but before boarding it, she stopped and looked back at Polybius.

"You know. If things with the Titans don't work out. Don't be afraid to reach out to me about joining the Justice League." Wonder Woman said.

The mute Titan nodded as he watched the two board the ship. The team waved them goodbye as the ship took off.

"Aw snap!" Beast Boy said, "Polybius's got a spot in the Justice League!"

The mute Titan waved him off as he watched the ship fly away.

Meanwhile, on the ship, Donna sat in the passenger seat next to Diana awfully quiet and clearly upset.

"Don't worry little sister." Diana assured her "You're going home now. You'll be safe there, I promise. Mother's changed some things since you left."

"Yeah…" Donna trailed off.

There was a moment of silence as Diana thought for a moment.

"You're gonna miss him, aren't you?" Diana said referring to Polybius.

"He's the nicest person I've ever met." Donna said "And his reasons for fighting are so… selfless!"

"Oh?" Wonder Woman asked, "Why does he fight?"

"Because he doesn't want what happened to him to happen to others." Donna replied, "I wish I could do the same after seeing all the good he does."

"You want to be a hero?" Diana asked.

"Yes!" Donna replied "Helping people and making sure the same things that happen to me don't happen to them! That sounds like the best thing I could do."

Wonder Woman couldn't help but smile at her little sister as she thought about when she first took up being a hero.

"You know…" Diana started "There is more than one set of bracelets and lasso of truth."

"You don't mean!?" Donna asked, hope rising in her voice.

"I do." Wonder Woman replied, "I'll train you to be a heroine if that is what you want."

"More than anything!" Donna said, "But I don't think mother would allow it."

"Mother doesn't have to know about it." Wonder Woman said, "I'll give you some proper training so you too can answer the call to be a hero."

"Thank you!" Donna squealed in excitement.

**And there you have it! Donna is on her way back home and with new purpose. Meanwhile, the hunt for Montezuma will continue to rage on.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't be afraid to leave me some feedback. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.**

**Also, a quick little update. As for this story, we are about half way through, little further actually. So please, do not be afraid to let me know how I am doing. Drop a review, it doesn't have to be a good one, or PM me. Just a little information how I am doing would be would be much appreciated. Thanks!**


	21. Chapter 21: No to the Wicked

_Chatper 21_

_No to the Wicked..._

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Beast Boy said, "Get ready for the scariest nights of your lives!"

Polybius just rolled his eyes as Robin joined the rest of the team on the couch in the main room.

"Maybe Control Freak's monsters didn't scare you." Beast Boy went on, "But this move will freak you out!"

"Whatever." Raven said for both herself and Polybius.

"It can't be any creepier than that documentary on hotdogs Starfire made us watch." Robin pointed out.

"Yes! It was the most fascinating!" Starfire declared, "I had no idea that Earth people ate some many pigs! And Insects!"

Cyborg then promptly vomited.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bugs and hotdogs, big deal." Beast Boy waved off "This movie is supposed to be cursed. When people watch it, strange things happen. Evil things!"

This was followed up by Beast Boy, giving a rather pathetic attempt at an evil laugh.

"Just start the movie." Raven told him.

But before Beat Boy could react, Polybius held up a finger.

"What is it, Polybius?" Beast Boy asked.

He then texted his question to Beast Boy.

"If this movie is cursed, then why are we watching it!? This is about as dumb as that movie about the people who watch the tape that kills people, and everybody knows it dose. But people still watch it!" Beat Boy read out loud.

"Aw, come on, Polybius! Don't tell me you're superstitious." Cyborg said.

Beast Boy's phone then went off with a text from Polybius.

"And after everything we've been through this past year, you aren't? After everything we've seen, you aren't remotely superstitious?" Beast Boy read out loud.

"He makes a good point." Robin said.

"No way!" Beast Boy said, "We've gotta watch this movie!"

"Then, just start it!" Raven said, cutting Polybius off from texting a response.

Beast Boy then did as he was told and joined the team on the couch.

After their fight with Control Freak a few hours ago, Beast Boy picked up a copy of the movie Wicked Scary. The mute Titan had heard about this movie and could care less about it. Horror didn't really make him scared, which ruined the whole point of the film. In fact, Polybius found them more humorous than anything else with just how dumb they all were.

The movie opened up with a bunch of teens their age heading to this party in the swamp. But this wasn't just any swamp they were headed to. It was Shrek's swamp. However, Shrek clearly got evicted and replaced by a creature that looked like a blend of Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy.

And of course, there were all these warnings about disappearances and missing people in the swamp. This made no sense to Polybius as he had many questions about the logic of this.

"Sush!" Beast Boy quickly said when Polybsiu tried to get his attention to ask.

The mute Titan rolled his eyes and just watched as some old man tell the teens who were headed into the swamp to go back. 'He had seen a thing in that swamp.' But the man was promptly ignored, and the teens laughed at him and sped off.

"They ain't gonna come back." The old man said.

The mute Titan rolled his eyes at the scene.

"Polybius?" Starfire asked, "Are you not enjoying the movie?"

The mute Titan shook his head.

"Why?" Starfire asked.

"SUSH!" Beast Boy quickly silenced her.

The movie then followed up with the teens having a party in some old dirty cabin. Of course, there had to be at least ten minutes of the film dedicated to the teens having sex because it wouldn't be a horror movie if there wasn't any.

Eventually, one of the teens passed out drunk in a bush outside. There he had a dream of the monster killing him only for him to wake up and the monster to be right there.

Naturally, the screams attracted everyone else, and they came out just in time to see the monster drag the kid away.

The mute Titan looked around to see everyone shared the same mixed look of jaw-dropped shock and horror. He meanwhile, was silently laughing at the movie's stupidity and predictability.

"We gotta get out of here." Said a girl that looked, but didn't sound at all like Donna, said.

And of course, the teen that got dragged away had the keys to the car on him. And so when they went outside, they got attacked by the monster and started running through the swamp. Only for blonde hoe number 3 to trip and fall because she was wearing high heels.

And of course, jock number 2 had to go back to save her, only to get himself killed by the monster.

The mute Titan looked around to see that Beast Boy had disappeared, and Starfire had hidden behind Robin's cape and shut her eyes. Like that was going to protect her from anything.

In the next scene, the trio of survivors made their way back to the house: two chicks and a dude.

So after they barricaded themselves in the house, they found that they couldn't get any cell service.

"Somebody has to try and make it to town." The girl in heels said.

Polybius couldn't help but shout 'No!' in his head. They walked themselves into this situation despite everyone telling them not to. They deserved to die for how stupid they were.

The guy then got a brilliant idea and that he would go into town by sneaking past the monster. This, predictably, ended in disaster. The beast attacked and promptly killed him, not even nine steps away from the house.

But of course, to make things more dramatic, the producers had to have him manage to crawl back to the small opening and for the useless hoes to try and rescue him. Grabbing onto his arms and having a tug of war with the monster. And naturally, they lost.

Polybius then heard a bowl fall onto the floor and saw that Starfire had knocked over her bowl of whatever, and it had spilled onto the floor. Yet she seemed to be utterly oblivious to it. The mute groaned as it was his week to clean the main room, and he knew he was going to have to deal with that.

So then the two girls had about a five-minute freakout session before the monster broke into the house. This caused them to flee upstairs and up into the attic. Up there, they found the guy with the car keys. And of course, they tried to free him following a pregnancy reveal by the Donna look alike. Naturally, the two females were unable to rescue their friend, and the monster killed him.

The mute Titan couldn't help but silently laugh at the movie. It was so dumb!

And of course, the monster then had to show up after this failure and quickly dispatch one of the girls. Hitting her with its tentacle and causing her to crack her head wide open on a dog cage? Polybius wasn't sure what it was, but it was a cage of some kind.

This then prompted the lone survivor, the Donna look alike, to then go up on the roof. Up there, the monster took off its swamp cloak to reveal it had more than enough mouths to satisfy eight people at once.

And of course, she had to find a conveniently placed can of hairspray and lighter.

"Go back to hell!" The girl shouted as she suddenly got a burst of courage.

Then, stealing a page out of Polybius's book, lit the monster up and caused it to fall off the roof and retreat into the basement. After a good two minute cry and tossing away can and lighter, she headed downstairs and, for whatever reason, decided that it would be a good idea to go and check the basement.

And naturally, this didn't go well for the Donna look-alike for as soon as she entered, she got thrown forward. Looking back, it revealed itself to be the shadow of the creature looming over her. She then gave one loud shriek of terror, and the movie ended.

The mute Titan silently laughed. He couldn't figure out what possessed this Donna look-alike to go down there. Wait, yes, he did. Plot!

"Is it over?" Beast Boy asked from behind the couch as Polybius silently laughed to himself.

"I dare not open my eyes to find out." Starfire replied.

"Now, I'm really sick to my stomach." Cyborg commented.

"I've fought psychotic villains, robot commandos, and giant oozing monsters, but that was the scariest thing I have ever seen." Robin commented, which the mute Titan found just sad.

The mute Titan couldn't take it anymore as he began shaking his head. Oh, was that movie terrible!

The four Titans then laughed as Raven turned away. They commented about how bad, bad being good, the movie was. Beast Boy then went over to Raven.

"So? Beast Boy questioned her, "Come on! Admit it! You were totally scared!"

"I don't do fear." Raven replied.

"Liar!" Cyborg said, "Now, the guy sitting next to you is a different story."

"Oh?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Polybius didn't even flinch during the whole thing!" Cyborg said.

"Yeah!" Robin confirmed, "In fact, when we were all scared out of our minds, he was sitting over there laughing like it was a comedy."

"I don't remember hearing any laughing." Beast Boy said.

"That's because he can't talk." Raven replied.

"Oh yeah." Beast Boy said.

"So did you actually get scared, or were you just laughing the whole time?" Cyborg asked.

Polybius then texted him the appropriate response.

"Not even a little scared!?" Cyborg questioned in disbelief.

"Now, there is our fearless Titan!" Robin said, "Sorry, Raven, but I think Polybius has got you beat."

"Whatever." Raven replied.

It wasn't long after that that the mute Titan headed back to his room and hopped on his computer. He then went to Beast Boy's twitter page and looked at a particular post.

The image was of him and Donna sitting together on the couch. It was just the two of them with the description 'Polybius's new friend Donna!'

Of course, it had millions of likes, comments, and retweets. The mute Titan had read some of the comments. Most of them were saying how they would make a cute couple, which he just scrolled past. Others were commenting about how good Donna looked, which Polybius just scrolled past. And then there were a few genuinely pleasant comments about how they seemed to be great friends.

And Polybius knew he was missing Donna a lot. He was missing her at that very moment and wished to see her again. However, he knew why a relationship would never work out between them. Between the fact that he didn't want one, nor could he do one, was all the reason he needed not to pursue one.

But Polybius had another reason for visiting this image.

Quickly saving the image, he sent it to the picture printer down in the evidence room. And while Robin wasn't a fan of the Titans using it for personal stuff, Polybius didn't care. He had finally bought a small frame for the photo and was going to put it next to the picture of him that Jinx tried to steal a while back.

Once the picture was set in its frame and put on his desk, the mute Titan called it a day and went to sleep. However, a scream about four hours later would bring all of the Titans to the main room except for Polybius. And after the lights shut off in the main room, the Titans started to lose their nerve.

"Okay!" Cyborg said, "Polybius, come out! Stop messin with us!"

Nothing happened.

A tentacle then appeared on Robin's shoulder.

"Alright, Polybius. You got us." Robin said, calming down rather rapidly.

"I thought Polybius's tentacles were black. Not green." Starfire stated.

"That's not Polybius." Beast Boy corrected.

Robin then looked back to reveal the monster from Wicked Scary. It threw off its cloak to reveal all of its mouths.

A fight then ensued where Raven discovered that she lost her powers. Luckily for her, the monster quickly disappeared, almost as quickly as it appeared.

"Um, there was just a monster here? Right?" Cyborg questioned.

"Forget the monster!" Robin said, "We need to find Polybius! Split up and search the tower!"

However, Beast Boy was quick to shoot down that stupid idea, reminding them that they were safer in numbers. Robin agreed that this was a better idea.

"Where do we start looking for Polybius then?" Starfire asked.

"His room." Robin replied, "He's the furthest away from the main room, so he may not have heard the scream."

"You mean he might be sleeping with a giant monster looming over him waiting for him to wake up to do horrible things to him!" Starfire quickly said.

"Look, Star." Cyborg started, "Let's not think about the bad, okay. Polybius is the toughest guy we know. I mean, the dude fought off Wonder Woman. Most of us here would have gotten our butts handed to us by her."

"He's right." Raven said, "If there is anybody who could survive this one their own, it would be Polybius. Especially how he handles everything more tactfully than we do."

"No!" Beast Boy countered, "Were you guys not paying attention!? The monster took the first guy and used him as a trap for the others! Polybius is a lost cause! We've gotta get out of here!"

"We can't abandon Polybius!" Robin quickly countered.

"He may be right." Raven said, "There is a high possibility that the monster has already taken Polybius and wants us to go to his room."

"Then that's where we'll go." Robin said and then turned, "Come on, let's…"

Robin then stopped himself when he saw that no one was following him.

"I'm sorry, but the dude is really far away." Cyborg said, "And while I do want to go after him, after how that monster just trashed us, I don't think it's a good idea."

"Seconded." Beast Boy said.

"Come on!" Robin said, "We can't abandon Polybius when he may need us most."

"As much as I hate to say it. I think they're right." Raven said, "The best course of action is to go get some help."

"No!" Starfire declared, "We cannot abandon Polybius like this! We must go after him as he would never abandon us in a time like this!"

"Come on, be reasonable, Star." Cyborg said, "It's as we said earlier, if anybody could survive this by themselves, it would be him. He'll be fine."

"No!" Starfire said, "We must go find him!"

"Alright, how about this." Robin said, "We go to his room to see if he's there. If he's not, we will then declare him lost and get out. That's fair?"

"That seems like the best plan." Raven said, "We can use the west wing elevator to get to the ground floor from there."

"It's settled then." Robin said, "To Polybius's room!"

With that, the team began heading towards the mute Titan's room. However, their journey was slow, and each step filled with caution. Yet the whole trip was oddly quiet.

"There it is." Starfire said, looking down at the end of the hall where Polybius's room was, "I hope our friend is okay."

"He's probably fine." Cyborg assured her.

Just then, a loud roar came from behind them. It revealed itself to be the monster.

"Run!" Robin shouted, "For Polybius's room!"

With that, the Titans took off towards the mute's room. However, it seemed that every step they took only got them a millimeter closer to the door. Despite this, Cyborg was the first one to reach the door and quickly punched in an override code to open the door.

"Come on!" Cyborg said as he stood in front of the door, waiting for it to open.

Unable to stop themselves, as the door opened, all of the Titans crashed into each other and through the door. As they landed on the ground, the door shut behind them. This caused Polybius to shoot straight out of bed with a mild panic attack at all of the sudden and loud commotion.

"Eek!" Starfire shouted, "Someone's claws are on my grebnecks!"

"Eh, sorry." Beast Boy said as the team got up.

"Polybius!" Cyborg shouted, "You're alive!"

The mute Titan gave the team a confused look. He had no clue what they were talking about.

A loud knock on the door got everybody's attention. While the five who had just crashed into the room quickly jumped over to the far side by the rocking chairs and desk, the owner didn't. Instead, he looked over at the closed door with a profoundly annoyed look on his face, and pain setting into his back.

"Polybius!" Robin said as the mute got out of bed, "Get over here!"

Polybius ignored the leader as he walked over to the door.

"NO!" The team shouted as Polybius reached for the button to open the door.

Yet fear kept them on the far side of the room as Polybius hit the button. And when he did, the wicked scary monster revealed itself to be standing on the other side of the door.

"AH!" The team screamed in fear as Polybius just looked up at it with the same annoyed and absolutely unamused look on his face.

The creature was quick to get in his face and unlead a deafening roar. This caused Polybius to close his eyes, but not out of fear. Rather out of not wanting to get the monster's spit on his eyes.

Once the monster was finished, it came up about 6 inches away from Polybius's face. And then came one scariest moments the Titans would ever see together.

The mute Titan, rather than do anything about the monster, just turned to his side and looked at his team. He then pointed a thumb at the beast with a confused look on his face. He wanted to know why they were really fearing this.

The monster then let out another roar, and this time Polybius turned on it.

Showing no fear on his face, but instead, a let a neutral look take his face. He then reached back like a pimp and pimp slapped the monster across the face hard with a slap as loud as the creature had just roared.

The other five Titan's jaws just dropped as the monster just stood there in shock. Polybius maintained the same neutral look on his face as the beast looked back down on the mute. Polybius then pointed back behind the monster, telling it to go away.

With a small whimper, the monster then backed off Polybius and left, leaving the Titans in shock and awe of their teammate.

Polybius looked back at them without closing his door. They all just stared at him with shock on their faces.

"Okay. Remind me to never mess with Polybius again." Beast Boy was the first to speak.

"Now that was the scariest thing I have ever seen." Robin said.

"Polybius just drove it away like it was nothing!" Cyborg commented.

"I think I am now more scared of Polybius than I am of whatever is out there." Starfire added.

"Woah." Was all Raven said.

Down the hall behind Polybius, the team saw what looked like two Wicked Scary monsters talking to each other. The one Polybius had just slapped pointed down at the end of the hall, and the other one quickly came charging.

"Here comes another one!" Beast Boy shouted.

Polybius looked back just in time to time his attack. As the monster charged him, Polybius slapped it right before it reached him. However, for this monster, Polybius was not putting up with its crap.

The monster looked back at Polybius only to get slapped again. The mute Titan then began repeatedly slapping the crap out of it, causing it to cry in pain and whimper in fear as it backed off.

The other monster, who was standing not too far behind, began to back up as well. The beast that was currently being attacked by Polybius then managed to back away from the mute. Once outside of Polybius's arms reach, it was on.

The mute Titan then began chasing both of the monsters down the hall. This caused both of them to scream in fear as the mute relentlessly pursued them, leaving the Titans in awe and the dust.

"I am never going to disrespect Polybius again." Cyborg stated as Polybius left the view.

"Same." Beast Boy said.

"Come on!" Robin said, "Polybius has given us an opening!"

"And what?" Raven asked.

"To get to the bottom of this." Robin said.

"You kidding me?" Cyborg asked, "I think Polybius is going to take care of the problem for us."

"Which means we can use this as an opportunity to check the evidence room." Robin countered.

"Why?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes, it seems that Polybius has the situation under control." Starfire agreed.

"I think I know what may be causing this." Robin said, "But I need to check that room to be sure."

The team then headed down towards the evidence room where they found Control Freak's remote. Robin then began to explain what he thought was happening. However, before he could finish, two green tentacles from the wall appeared and took him away.

"Dang it!" Cyborg said, "How many of these things are there!?"

"At least two." Raven answered, "They probably split up once Polybius began chasing them."

Suddenly they heard screams of terror coming from the hall.

"Help!" The screams shouted, "Somebody help! Somebody help me, please!"

The four Titans quickly rushed into the hall to find that it was a monster shouting that. It quickly rushed right past them. And only eight paces behind it and gaining was Polybius, who also passed them as well.

"Is that the towel rack from the bathroom?" Cyborg questioned the long metal object the mute was chasing the monster with.

"I think so." Starfire said.

"Why does he have the towel rack?" Beast Boy questioned.

"To beat the monster with." Raven answered.

As quickly as the two flashed by them, they both vanished in the halls.

"Okay. That dude is scary." Cyborg said.

"Agreed." The other three quickly agreed.

"Well, what do we do now?" Beast Boy asked.

"Look for Robin." Raven answered, "If Polybius has those things afraid of them, then we have nothing to be afraid of."

"Expect him." Cyborg countered.

"Yeah." Beast Boy agreed.

The four then stuck together and began searching the tower. However, there were no signs of Robin, and oddly enough, they didn't run into Polybius or the monsters either.

After thoroughly checking the main room, they reconvened to discuss their plan of action.

"We haven't checked the basement yet." Raven pointed out.

"Then, we'll go there." Cyborg said.

"No way!" Beast Boy said, "There is only one way in and out of that place! And if the monster comes between us and the door, we're done for!"

"Polybius has probably beaten the monsters to death by now." Cyborg pointed out, "He was gaining on that one monster we saw earlier.

"That's saying he's still fighting." Raven said, "He may have been taken out himself."

"That doesn't matter." Cyborg said, "We have to find Robin and figure out what he was going to say."

However, as the team headed towards the basement, they quickly found themselves getting attacked by one of the monsters roaming the halls. It ambushed them just as they were exiting the elevator and ran off with Beast Boy.

"No!" Cyborg shouted as the creature ran off with Beast Boy.

Before any further action could be taken, they heard a crash come from the main entrance.

"What was that!?" Cyborg asked as the trio made their way over there.

One there, again, the found Polybius fighting a monster. He didn't have his towel rack this time, but instead was throwing the foldable chairs at two Wicked Scary monsters.

"Where did those chairs come from?" Starfire asked.

"I bought them so that way if we ever had to have a massive briefing here, we could use them." Cyborg explained.

"Should… we help him?" Raven questioned as they watched Polybius pull more chairs off the rack and throw them at the monsters.

Before anybody could make a decision, both of the monsters then took off, and Polybius grabbed the last foldable chair and followed suit.

"Okay. I know I keep sayin this, but that dude is terrifying." Cyborg said, "Nothin scares that man!"

"And there is nothing scarier than him." Starfire added on.

The team then made their way towards the basement. Starfire wasn't eager to check it as it was the scariest place in the tower. And without Polybius to protect them, exploring it didn't seem like a good idea.

Which it wasn't.

Starfire quickly found herself getting overtaken by the demon rats of the basement. And while Cyborg and Raven tried to save her, it was too late.

"No!" Raven said as Cyborg hauled her out of the basement, "We need to go back! Maybe there is a way we can still save her."

"Without Polybius, we aren't doing anything." Cyborg said.

Just then, the two heard a loud crash come from behind them. They both looked back to see that Polybius was stabbing one of the monster's eye out with a…

"Is he seriously stabbing that monster's eye out with a plastic butter knife?" Cyborg asked.

"Y- Yes…" Raven said, seeing the same thing.

"Okay?" Cyborg asked as Polybius continued to utilize the butter knife as a weapon.

That was precisely what Polybius was doing. With questionable effectiveness, the monster did manage to slip away from him, one hand over its eye. The mute Titan dropped the ruined butter knife on the ground and gave chase.

"That worked?" Cyborg asked.

"It looked like it." Raven said as she began to head towards the remains of the knife.

She looked down at it to see that it looked like it had been effective in at least blinding the monster. She wasn't so sure about taking its eye out.

"Hey, Cyborg, I could use a little more…" Raven started, but as she looked back, she cut herself off when she saw Cyborg missing.

A screech from down the hall Polybius and the monster had just gone to reveal a new dinosaur looking monster flying towards her. She quickly began to run towards the elevator. Once she was inside, she was taken to the main room where once again she found Polybius fighting a monster.

This time, Polybius had ripped part of one of the countertops off and was using it to beat the monster as it tried to crawl away from him. She watched as it crawled out of the room, and Polybius followed.

She tried to follow two but was cut off when the other Wicked Scary monster stepped in her path. The magical girl quickly found herself with her back against the wall and monsters closing in around her. This caused her to accept her fear, and realize that, like Polybius, she too could fight back.

Unleashing her freshly regained powers, Raven banished all of the monsters in the tower and subsequently passed out. Hours later she woke up to find everybody except Polybius there.

"Where's Polybius?" The conversation eventually got to.

As if on cue, Polybius then walked in, holding one of the LED light bars that Cyborg used in the garage.

"There he is!" Cyborg shouted happily, "There's the scariest man alive!"

"You mean the scariest creature alive." Starfire corrected, "The most horrible things I have seen on my planet pale in comparison to what we saw the previous night. And if he is willing to fight off those showing no fear, then he has earned the title of scariest creature alive!"

"How?" Robin asked, "I mean, I get that you weren't scared by the movie, but were you scared by the monsters in the tower?"

The mute Titan shook his head. He wasn't the slightest bit scared. Only annoyed that he lost sleep.

"All hail Polybius." Beast boy then began chanting.

**And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a good rest of your day!**


	22. Chapter 22: It's Just a Prank

_Chapter 22_

_It's Just a Prank..._

Beast Boy slyly snuck down the hall. It had been a few months since Polybius had trashed the Wicked Scary monsters, and the stigma of fear that came with it had long worn off. Now, Beast Boy was back to his usual antics against him. Pranking him and other things along those lines.

But now, Beast Boy had hatched a new plan. A plan so good that not even Raven was going to deny how good it was! At least that's what he thought.

Transforming into a small spider, Beast Boy patiently waited for Polybius's door to open. He had learned that usually about an hour before the sun went down, Polybius would go downstairs to tend his garden. He often wouldn't be back in his room until he went to sleep that night.

However, today was a rather odd one as Beast Boy waited and waited. Yet, Polybius still hadn't come out of his room.

Transforming back into his human form, the green Titan pulled out his phone and looked at the time. He then did a facepalm at his own stupidity.

He forgot that they had just set the clocks an hour forward! That meant that Polybius had already left and was out and about right now.

That didn't matter as the green teen needed only five minutes to set this up. Turning into a wasp, Beast Boy quickly flew through the vents and into the mute's room. Once inside, he found the place to be empty. Taking a quick peek out the window revealed to him that Polybius was outside tending the garden.

"Perfect." Beast Boy said devilishly.

Quickly rushing over to the mute's computer desk, he hopped in the swivel chair. Pulling out a washable Crayola black marker, Beast Boy grabbed the first picture, which was of the team.

"Now, to give Cyborg a goatee." Beast Boy said, "Raven bunny ears. Star a Mario mustache, Robin an Indian dot. Leave me alone and give Polybius a… a Santa beard!"

Going through the five different picture frames on his desk, Polybius drew some extra things on everyone. The last picture was of the mute and Donna. The green Titan actually stopped himself as he looked at the picture.

"Say, didn't I take that?" Beast Boy questioned, looking at the photo "Yeah, I did. Why does he got it here?"

That didn't matter as Beast Boy quickly got to work defacing the picture. Once he was done, he moved onto phase two.

Moving over to the nightstand on the other side of the bed, Beast Boy quickly dug into it and pulled out all of the 'health mixes.' Letting out an evil laugh, Beast Boy quickly put all of them in the backpack he had brought with him. He had already taken the three from Polybius's bag while the mute wasn't looking. He was going to hide them from Polybius to give him a good scare later.

And moving onto the final phase, Beast Boy moved over to the bulletin board. He then wasted no time arranging everything on it just to mess with Polybius. However, there was one thing that caught his attention.

"Mount Jackson Exposed." Beast Boy read the article out loud.

This confused Beast Boy as the article was dated to be over seven years old. Long before the Titans had joined together a year and a half ago. He couldn't help but wonder why Polybius was so interested in Mount Jackson as the green Titan had never heard about it.

Deciding he would do some research on it later, Beast Boy grabbed the article and stuffed it into his backpack. And with that, the green Titan quickly transformed into a wasp and flew away.

Once back outside and at his room, he pulled out the article and began reading it.

"Mount Jackson? A place that spews a horrifically lethal amount of radiation every day that keeps all at bay. Or at least that's what we've been told to believe." Beast Boy read out loud.

Most of the words in that sentence didn't make any sense to the green Titan. He needed somebody who knew words better than him to explain this to him.

Knowing exactly who to go to, he quickly made his way down the hall towards Raven's room. He knocked on the door and got a surprisingly quick response.

"What?" Raven asked.

"I need your help." Beast Boy said, holding up the article, "I can't quite understand this."

Raven then took the article from him and read the headline.

"Mount Jackson?" Raven said, "What's there to not understand. In the 60s, the American government had used it as a nuclear weapons construction area miles underground. However, the tunnels collapsed, and despite everyone's best efforts to get back into the rooms, they couldn't. Then, about seven years ago, everything came to a head when years of neglect and decay caused a massive radiation spill to happen, and now it's been marked off as a no go zone, and nobody is allowed to visit it."

"Really?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well, that's not the whole story of the place." Raven went on "It's also been nicknamed Mount Jackson Asylum. The reason being is that there are a lot of conspiracies floating around about that place. Some people think that the warhead construction was just a cover-up, and they were really doing something far more horrific. And that it all came to a head, and they blew the tunnels to keep something from getting out."

"Woah." Beast Boy said.

"Of course, this has never been proven." Raven countered, "Although some people, like the author of this article, would have you believe otherwise."

"Cool." Beast Boy commented.

"Where did you get this anyway?" Raven asked, "The Mount Jackson conspiracies have died off right around the time we formed our team. Nobody cares about that place anymore."

"I, uh, found it." Beast Boy lied.

"You found it?" Raven asked.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said more convincingly "It had blown onto our island. I saw it and picked it up."

"Right…" Raven said, not fully believing him, but letting it slide, "Well, don't dig too deep into Mount Jackson. Otherwise, you'll end up at a conspiracy theory level Alex Jones could only dream of reaching."

"Right." Beast Boy said, taking the article back.

And with that, Beast Boy began down the hall back towards his room. However, he bumped into Cyborg, turning a corner, causing him to drop the article on the ground. Cyborg quickly apologized and picked up the article, but stopped short of giving it to Beast Boy when he saw the cover.

"Man, why are ya lookin into Mount Jackson?" Cyborg asked.

"I'm not!" Beast Boy said, "That article just blew onto our island! I swear. I went and asked Raven to help me figure out what it meant."

"Oh." Cyborg believed him, "Well, just don't go digging down into it. Otherwise, you'll scramble your brains."

"Got it." Beast Boy said, taking the article back.

Beast Boy then quickly headed back to his room and sat down in his bed and held the article.

"Why is Polybius so interested in this place?" Beast Boy questioned as he looked at the article.

Polybius meanwhile, was making his way back upstairs upset. The ground in Jump City, California, wasn't like the land where he grew up. These particular species of plants were having a hard time growing here. And while they always had, today was worse. Many of his plants were doing so bad that he couldn't even harvest enough to make one health mix.

At least he had a large stash of reserve plants in his room he had been building up for months. He had enough to carry him for at least two weeks in times like this. And if things got really dire, he could always go to the Walmart gardening section or order off of Amazon and buy the plants there.

Heading back upstairs, the mute Titan decided to head up to the roof. While night had fallen on Jump City, it didn't matter to him. He had always felt more comfortable outdoors than indoors.

Heading out on the roof, Polybius took in a deep breath of fresh air as the moonlight danced on the water below. This was nothing new for him, but what was new was finding Robin up there too.

"Hey, Polybius!" Robin greeted as the mute Titan approached him.

Polybius gave a small wave and a smile.

"Come, take a seat." Robin offered as he sat down, feet dangling over the edge of the tower.

The mute Titan then did as he was requested and took a seat next to the leader. The two soaked in the view and moonlight for a moment before Robin started talking.

"So any update on Montezuma?" Robin questioned.

The mute shook his head. Ever since he had rescued Donna months ago, the Aztec wannabe hadn't shown his face. There were no signs of him anywhere, and thus, he had sort of just fallen off the radar again.

"Nothing new." Robin translated, "Same with Slade."

The masked leader had been getting frustrated in the past few months, with the two major criminals showing no activity. The mute was even going so far as pondering if Montezuma was even up to any schemes. He may have dropped the mantle of Montezuma and gone off and done something else. Whatever it was, Polybius hoped that it was better than what he was doing before.

"So, how have you been Polybius?" Robin asked.

The mute Titan was a bit taken off by this question but gave a thumbs up.

"Good." Robin replied, "I'd figure I'd ask because Cyborg and I were talking about you while we fitted the T-ship for space."

It had been only a week since Starfire's puberty burst had prompted her to run away. This resulted in her turning into a chrysalis and a subsequent boost of power. Now she was able to shoot Starbolts from her eyes. They had also become more accurate and powerful.

"He expressed to me that he doesn't think we treat you right." Robin said, "How you end up being mistreated, and can't even talk to defend yourself. How we just sort of cut you off from responding. And he's right. And I promise you, things will change."

Like Polybius hadn't heard that one before.

"And I know that he keeps saying that, and then things don't, but I promise you they will." Robin assured him.

"Starfire calling Robin." Robin's communicator suddenly went off.

"Robin. Go ahead." Robin replied, grabbing his communicator.

Starfire went on to ask him some questions, which prompted Robin to go to her. Something about the new stove Cyborg had just installed and how it was on fire.

This left Polybius alone on the roof, looking out at the ocean.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The voice of Darkbius said as he came up behind him and took a seat next to him, "More beautiful than anything you've got."

The mute Titan just waved him off. He had grown tired of seeing and hearing the darker version of himself talking. Spread lies. Both of them knew they were all false.

"Oh, come on now." Darkbius replied, "You think Beast Boy is your friend? Bah! Just wait until you get back to your room and see what he's done!"

The mute Titan got confused. Why on Earth was Darkbius making up these lies?

"Then again, it's not like he, Raven, or Cyborg are your friends." Darkbius said, "Especially them! Why the night the monster attacked, they were ready to bail on you!"

Again, the mute was confused by the darker version of himself.

"You don't believe me now, but just you wait. By this time tomorrow, you'll believe me again. Just you wait." Darkbius said before vanishing.

The mute Titan had no idea what his darker counterpart was going on about. However, it didn't matter. All that did was the natural beauty of nature.

After a while of just staring out at the ocean blue, Polybius finally hauled himself inside and went straight to bed without even looking around.

And as his body naturally woke him up hours later, the pain in his back quickly set it. Reaching over into his nightstand, the mute Titan became horrified upon seeing that all of his health mixes were gone.

Going straight to his backpack, Polybius found that the 3 emergency reserve bags he kept in his bag at all times were missing as well.

Panic began to set in as the mute began to try and figure out what had happened to his fourteen bags. His breathing picked up, and the pain in his back began to intensify as a result.

And of course, the crime alert had to go off.

The mute Titan tried to pick himself up and get to the main room. However, with the pain in his back, he didn't even make it to the door before being forced to stop.

Catching himself on the wall, the mute Titan slammed his fist into it hard out of pain. His knees began to buckle, his heart rate picked up, and his breathing intensified.

Forcing himself to concentrate, the mute Titan opened the door. He then forced himself to walk down the hall. He had to use the wall for support, however, as he came upon the main room.

"False alarm." He heard Robin say as he entered the room.

"Polybius?" Cyborg questioned seeing Polybius use the door for support.

The mute Titan then collapsed on the ground in pure agony. He couldn't physically take the pain.

"Polybius!" Cyborg shouted quickly, rushing over to him.

Polybius rolled over onto his back, and his face said it all.

"What's wrong with him!?" Robin asked as they quickly rushed to his side.

"He's in pain." Raven said, "A lot of it by the looks of it."

"Is it his back?" Cyborg said, "Doesn't he use homemade medication to keep that stuff at a tolerable level?"

"Is he out?" Starfire asked.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, was the only Titan who hadn't rushed to his side. He only watched on as he suddenly had a wave of guilt rush over him.

"Polybius? Are you out?" Cyborg asked, "Blink once for yes, twice for no!"

The mute Titan was in so much pain at that point, he couldn't even do that.

"Raven, can you do anything about this?" Robin asked.

"Flip him!" Raven then ordered.

Rolling him over onto his stomach, Raven attempted to use her powers to at least reduce the pain in his back. However, this didn't seem to have much of an effect on the mute, as he showed no signs of getting better.

"Starfire, go to his room and see if you can find any of his health mixes!" Robin ordered "Raven, go find your spell books and see if you can find something to help him. Cyborg, help me get him to the medical bay!"

And as the Titans vanished, Beast Boy just stood back and watched what happened. He felt incredibly guilty, but pulled himself together and ran to his room where he stashed the health mixes.

"Where are they?" Beast Boy questioned as he rummaged around his room.

Going over to his backpack, he opened it up to find Silke, the worm Robin had told him not to keep as a pet inside. Worse yet, the creature had eaten all of the health mixes.

Beast Boy let out a scream of terror when he saw this and panicked.

Meanwhile, back in the medical bay, Cyborg had Polybius hooked up to several rather scary-looking machines. Polybius meanwhile, rolled around on the bed now in complete helpless agony. Robin meanwhile, began frantically searching to see if they had anything in there that may help him.

"Here!" Robin said as he grabbed hold of a bottle of painkillers.

Quickly trying to get Polybius to take them, the mute Titan managed to gather himself enough to reject the pills. He knew his body would reject them as it always had with pills.

"Take it!" Robin was insistent.

However, at that moment, one of the screens began flashing red.

"What's going on!?" Robin demanded to know.

"Heart rate's dropping. Blood pressure!" Cyborg panicked "He's going into neurogenic shock! If something isn't done soon, he will die from the pain!"

Raven then quickly burst into the room with a box and several books right behind her. She immediately rushed to his side, as Cyborg explained that he was going into shock.

Raven quickly got to work as Starfire turned Polybius's room inside out, desperately looking for anything that may help. However, Polybius had never written down his recipe for this health mixes. And with all of them gone, it would seem that she would return empty-handed.

That was until she looked over at his computer desk and saw the defaced pictures.

"BEAST BOY!" Starfire shouted so loud it caused the entire tower to rumble.

The green teen meanwhile heard Starfire shout. His nerves were quickly overtaken with fear as his mind went blank on what to do.

Starfire meanwhile flew back into the medical bay with the defaced picture of the mute and Donna.

"Where is Beast Boy!?" Starfire demanded.

"Why?" Robin asked as Polybius he helped Cyborg hook him up to three more machines.

"This!" Starfire held up the picture of the other three to see.

"You mean BB's behind this?" Cyborg asked.

"He stole his health mixes as a prank." Raven explained, suddenly realizing what was going on "A prank that is going to get Polybius killed if we don't come up with something fast."

"Find Beast Boy, we'll find his mixes." Robin said, "Raven and Cyborg, stay here with Polybius. Starfire, and I will have a look around the tower."

"You had better turn it inside out." Cyborg said.

And with that, Robin and Starfire quickly took off to go and find Beast Boy. The teen in question was found in the hall.

"BEAST BOY!" Starfire shouted in rage.

Starfire quickly flew into him and grabbed him by his collar before he could even react. Her eyes green and full of rage as Robin promptly joined her.

"Where are the mixes!?" Robin demanded.

Beast Boy was clearly overcome with both shock and terror to answer.

"Where are they!?" Starfire demanded.

"Gone!" Beast Boy said.

"What do you mean, gone!?" Both Robin and Starfire demanded.

"I, uh, sort of lost them." Beast Boy timidly replied.

Both Robin and Starfire had a brief moment of shock come over them. If there were no health mixes available, then Polybius was going to die.

"Turn his room inside out." Robin ordered.

Starfire then dropped Beast Boy and quickly flew into the green Titan's room.

"Here's one!" Starfire shouted.

"Huh?" Beast Boy questioned.

Heading back to his room, he saw Starfire picking up one of Polybius's health mixes out of his bag. How on Earth the youngest Titan missed that was way beyond him.

"Hurry!" Robin ordered Starfire, "Get that to Polybius now!"

"Right!" Starfire said, quickly flying off.

Rushing back to the medical bay, Starfire held up the lone health mix.

"Thank goodness!" Raven said.

"You gotta liquify it!" Cyborg said, "Otherwise, he'll just choke on it."

"How?" Starfire asked.

"Give it here!" Cyborg said.

Cyborg then took the baggie and stuffed it in a machine. Ten seconds later, it beeped, and all of the contents of the bag were liquified.

"Put a tube down his throat!" Cyborg ordered, "And get me a funnel!"

Putting a tube down the mute Titan's throat, Cyborg then poured the health mix down his throat. The slush quickly made its way down into his stomach. Luckily for the mute, he was able to summon enough strength and focus to suck it down with the lone talon inside his stomach.

As Polybius sucked the liquified contents dry, his pain began to leave him, and he started to regain his strength and confidence.

After about five minutes of just lying on the bed, the mute Titan finally managed to sit up.

"Polybius!" Starfire shouted as she hugged him, "You're alive!"

The mute Titan nodded weakly as the Titans gave a sigh of relief.

"Now then." Cyborg said, "Beast Boy…"

About an hour later, Beast Boy, Robin, Cyborg, and Raven had gathered in the main room to hear Beast Boy's defense.

"Why would you do this?" Robin said, "You know he uses those for his back pain!"

"I know, I know." Beast Boy said, "I just thought that the pain in his back was going to be like when he used his powers, you know. Yeah, he hurts bad, but not to the point it would send him into shock!"

"Beast Boy, that's messed up." Cyborg commented, "I mean, taking a marker to his pictures was one thing, but this…"

"This is too far." Raven put it bluntly.

"I know I messed up." Beast Boy said.

"And to think I promised Polybius that things would get better last night." Robin said.

"Well, we've been telling him that for over a year now, and that hasn't happened." Cyborg said.

"Which is a problem." Robin said, "He puts up with so much from us. I'm amazed that he puts up with it. I don't know how he does it."

"That's a question only he can answer." Raven replied.

Meanwhile, back in the mute Titans room, Starfire was sitting in his swivel chair next to him as he laid in his bed. The medication had taken effect, and his back pain was reduced to its normal level. However, the shock had caused him a massive headache, and it incapacitated him.

As he laid in bed, Starfire was silent and just stayed by his side on her cellphone. He wished she would talk because he would much rather be hearing her voice than the voice of Darkbius.

"You get what I mean now?" Darkbius asked, "I told you Beast Boy wasn't your friend."

And while Polybius now firmly believed that, he still had faith in the other Titans.

"Just you wait." Darkbius told him, "One by one, they are going to show you that they want nothing more than to cause you harm. Look at Starfire over there. I bet you she's plotting something right now!"

The mute Titan didn't believe this. Starfire was the sweetest person he had ever met. He seriously doubted that she would intentionally hurt him.

"Just wait." Darkbius said, "They will all hurt you. And they will show you that you had something better!"

**Thank you for reading this chapter and have a wonderulf rest of your day!**


	23. Chapter 23: Say Hello to the End

_Chapter 23_

_Say Hello to the End..._

The mute Titan sat up on top of the tower, quite frustrated. He was frustrated with everything right now. His plants, his friends, his life! It was all causing him an enormous amount of stress, and he hated it.

In Polybius's mind, Beast Boy had gotten off too easy with what he did. He just had to pick up Polybius's share of the chores for the rest of the year, along with a couple of other minor restrictions. And while Beast Boy didn't know that Polybius's pain was that bad. And that there was a reason why the first thing he did in the morning was to eat a health mix. Polybius wasn't kidding when he said he was useless without them.

What made things even worse, is that Beast Boy had yet to come forth and face him after the event. Not once outside of missions had the two formally interacted. The reason being Polybius was too angry, and Beast Boy was too timid to make the first move.

Regardless, this event had caused a rift to form between Polybius and the others. While Raven agreed with him that the punishment was too light, she felt too distant. For Polybius nearly dying, she didn't really give him the support that he wanted. That being, she would at least look like she was there for him. However, she just hid away in her room and detached herself from the situation.

And of course, Cyborg and Starfire agreed with Robin's punishment, and that formed a rift between himself and them. At that moment in his life, he didn't really feel like he had anybody to comfortably turn too.

This, of course, wasn't aided by Darkbius's words that reminded him just how alone he really was. And now, Polybius was starting to believe that Darkbius was right about that Wicked Scary monster night. That initially, they didn't want to go after him and leave him for dead. At that moment in time, he really believed that.

And things would only get worse for him when Terra decided to show her face again. Polybius wasn't even on the roof when she reappeared. He wasn't even on the island.

Instead, since the event, Polybius withdrew himself more from the team. He opted to go hide out in the forest alone. At least out there, he felt comfortable surrounded by nothing other than trees and grass.

However, what really angered Polybius is after a Slade mission where he sent big metal worms to attack Titans Tower, the other five decided to allow her to join the team. They made her own room and everything. And while Polybius wasn't opposed to her joining the team, thinking it could certainly use another member, he was just too frustrated with the others to really support this decision.

In fact, the only good he saw out of it at that moment in time was that it got Starfire off his back. And while he wasn't mad at her, he was still annoyed by her constant nagging and worrying.

And the following week when Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy disappeared for a couple of days, it was highly welcomed by the mute. Even though the three females were still hanging around in the tower, it felt nice to be given more breathing space. Regardless, however long it lasted.

On the second day of the male Titan's absence, Polybius was sitting down on the shore of the island. He was looking out at the ocean blue, trying to relax. However, he found himself unable too due to the amount of stress he was under.

"Polybius?" He heard a less than familiar voice ask.

The mute Titan looked over his right shoulder to see Terra standing there.

"Uh, hi." Terra greeted, "Mind if I take a seat?"

The mute Titan motioned for her to take a seat next to him. He was somewhat confused as to why Terra was here. Ever since she arrived, Starfire and Beast Boy had done nothing but fought over her attention. And with Beast Boy gone, he would have figured that Starfire would have been happy to have her all to herself.

Starfire must have been asleep for Terra to get away from her.

"So I know you don't like me." Terra stated, "And I get why."

The mute Titan cut her off. He then pulled out his notebook and wrote some things down for Terra to see.

"So you're not mad at me." Terra said, "And the reason you've been rather distant lately is because you're frustrated. Just not with me, but the others."

The mute Titan nodded.

"I see." Terra said, "Getting on your nerves?"

The mute Titan nodded again.

"Understandable." Terra said, "Just a few days ago, I heard Robin talking about how they don't treat you right. And how the fact that they keep saying it's going to get better and then doesn't is a serious problem."

The mute Titan then wrote down that he had heard that a million times before, and things never changed.

"I see." Terra replied after reading the statement, "Well… I suppose this is the part where I'm supposed to tell you that I'm going to treat you better."

The mute Titan looked over at her with a look of no confidence on his face.

"I know that probably means nothing to you now, but I promise I'll do better than them." Terra said.

The mute Titan just rolled his eyes. Everything he had heard before, and yet he didn't believe her.

"Let me prove it to you!" Terra said, "I know you love the outdoors, right! Why don't we go for a nature walk or something? Get to know each other while Starfire is asleep, and Beast Boy is away. You down?"

The mute Titan thought about it for a moment. If Terra was going to be a part of the team, then getting to know her better would be a good idea.

The mute Titan nodded.

"Great!" Terra said, "I know this excellent trail that walks along the edge of the desert and the forest. I know you prefer the forest and I prefer the desert, so that should be a good route for both of us!"

The two Titan then got up, and Terra used her powers to fly them on a rock to the start of the trail. From there, the two set off down on their path. It was silent for a short while until Terra began talking.

"So what's wrong with the desert?" Terra asked, "I don't mean to ask that to be rude, but I am just interested as to why you don't like it."

Polybius pulled out his notebook, but Terra stopped him and pulled out her phone.

"Just text it to me." Terra said.

The mute Titan nodded and swapped out for his phone and texted her his answer.

"Okay." So Terra said, getting ready to read the message out loud, "It's not that you don't like the desert, it's that it's the most different biome from where you grew up."

Terra then took a moment to think about her next question before asking it.

"So, where did you grow up?" Terra asked.

Polybius texted a response.

"Way up north." Terra read out loud, "Like, how far north, Washington?"

The mute Titan shook his head.

"Further?" Terra asked.

The mute nodded.

"British Columbia?" Terra asked.

The mute Shook his head.

"Alaska?" Terra asked.

The mute nodded.

"Wow!" Terra said, "That had to of been cool. I hear that the nature up there is beautiful!"

Polybius nodded.

"Well I guess that explains a lot about you then." Terra said, "I know Starfire said at some point you grew up somewhere remote and rural. And if there was anywhere that far north to be, Alaska would be the place."

The mute teen smiled.

"I've gotta ask, did you grow up in the part where it is night all day for a portion of the year, and then day all day for a portion of the year?"

Polybius nodded his head.

"Cool!" Terra commented, "I've always wanted to go to Alaska. However, I've never had the proper gear to do it. Plus running around up there in that big open area, I'd probably get lost without the help of locals. And frankly, I'd rather just keep to myself."

The mute couldn't blame her. He had gotten lost many times in his adventures in Alaska.

Polybius then texted her something that made her quite happy.

"Really!?" Terra asked in disbelief, "You'll show me around sometime!?"

The mute nodded.

"Oh man, I can't wait!" Terra proclaimed.

The two continued their little walk down the trail, and Terra talked to him a little bit about her past life. About how she bounced from place to place, trashed a few bad guys here and there. How she had been a free spirit wandering around. And how she was now happy to be apart of the Titans.

By the end of the trail, the two finished back where they started. They then headed back over to the tower. However, just before the duo walked back inside, Terra began talking about something that took Polybius off guard.

"Oh, say I was scrolling through Beast Boy's Twitter page the other day, trying to figure out what happened since the last time I saw you guys." Terra started, "It was mostly just of you guys stomping bad guys and hanging out. But there was this one picture of you and this Donna girl, and I gotta ask, are you dating her?"

The mute Titan about choked when he heard this. The idea of dating anyone was not one he liked. He quickly shook his head.

"I see." Terra said "Well I won't push you much further about that. It's not right of me to get all up in your personal life like that. But I will be seeing you later, right?"

The mute nodded.

And with that, Terra left him. The mute wasn't sure how he felt about her. He wasn't sure if he liked her or not.

That opinion would get sealed two weeks later when two hundred armed robots attacked Titans tower, and it was revealed she was a traitor.

While all of the Titans got hit by this betrayal, Polybus was the least affected by this. He and Terra didn't get off on the right foot, and the two never entirely got all that close, unlike the others. And when it boiled down to it, the mute was already half expecting this to happen.

What he wasn't expecting was what was going to happen the following day.

The mute was sitting in his room, generally minding his own business in his rocking chair. When a voice that sounded a lot like his, expect a little deeper began speaking.

"Well look at what we have here." The voice said.

The mute Titan looked over to the other chair to see that he was sitting there. Except this version of him was wearing beige pants and a beige dress shirt. He had on sleek looking black dress shoes, and his hair was a little longer than the mute's. However, the most notable feature of this man is that he was wearing suspenders to keep his pants up. They were light brown with a purple stripe down the middle. The same color purple that made up the eagle on his long sleeve tee shirt he wore under his jacket.

"Polybius the Titan." The man went on, "Once the most feared Titan on the team! Now reduced to a punching bag and a broken shell."

The mute Titan couldn't help but notice that the way this person talked, he dragged out each word in his sentence a little bit, but the flow was normal. Despite how off he was talking, it didn't sound weird.

"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, and whatever the third thing is." The man started as if he were on some sort of news show "My name is Polybius Prussia, and today we have Polybius Prussia! So, Polybius! Let us begin this interview and find out where it all went so horribly wrong!?"

Polybius gave the man a perplexed look. The Titan had no idea what was going on.

"But before we begin, let me tell you a little bit about myself." The man said, "My name is Polybius Prussia, the most highly respected newsman to ever live! Why? Because I am willing to interview and talk to the monsters that nobody else is. I am the one who goes out into the middle of the forest at night and interviews the Siren Head! I am what you could have been if you had just simply walked away that fateful night!"

The mute Titan wondered what he was going on about.

"Yes! That night you ran into the Titans. You had a choice. You could have walked away and become me! Had you walked away that day, you would have gotten your voice back. You would have then gone to work for a small news company. And with you being the main reporter, they would have skyrocketed to become more popular than even the Daily Planet."

The mute was starting to follow what his counterpart was saying.

"I am what you could have been! And let me tell you, your life if you had walked away, would be a lot better. You would be one of the most famous people alive and highly sought after by everyone. And better yet, you wouldn't be feeling miserable. You would be living a far better life than you will ever get with the Titans!"

The mute Titan wasn't quite sure he believed his counterpart. Yet, Polybius couldn't help but feel that there was at least some truth to the man's words.

"And the best part of all is this!" The man went on, "Your friend Donna would have never been put through any torture if you had walked away."

That caught Polybius off guard. What was this man going on about now?

"You can't understand why now. But it'll all make sense later, trust me." The man said, "It'll all make sense once you go back!"

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna laid in bed. She was rather upset at that moment. The reason being is this whole Wonder training was going extremely slow. Far slower than she would have liked it.

As expected, when she returned home, things had changed considerably. Security was heightened, combat training was increased, and she had been placed under high supervision. With Montezuma still at large, her practice with Diana was once in a blue moon. That coupled with her older sister's duties to the Justice League, it meant she was sitting on her butt most of the day.

And while she was delighted to be returned home, she missed what she saw in the outside world. Yes, Montezuma was a horrible first impression. But what Polybius and Starfire had shown the world for what it really was for, she wanted nothing more to go back and cursed the fact that she washed up on this island as an infant.

Then again, if she hadn't, then she would have never met Polybius or Starfire.

Upon her return, she had been warmly greeted, and a small celebration was held for her safe return. Of course, her mother wasn't thrilled that not only a man saved her looked almost exactly like the one who nearly brought the total destruction of the Amazonian women.

The fact that Polybius had a very uncanny resemblance to Montezuma didn't bother Donna. Donna didn't see Montezuma when she looked at Polybius. Instead, she saw inspiration. His words, even though not spoken by him, had really inspired her to be a better person. His forgiveness. His integrity. His malleability. Everything!

And as much as her mother or sisters would hate to hear it, she missed him. She missed him more than she did Cyborg, Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, or even Starfire. She wished she could see him again and the others one more time.

Looking over at her closet, Donna decided to pull out her uniform Diana had gotten her. It was a red dress with yellow stars on it. The sleeveless dress went from her shoulders down to about the same length as Starfire's skirt. She had a golden belt with a W on it and black high heel boots. She also had her bracelets and lasso.

Grabbing hold of the uniform, Donna couldn't help but think that she was never going to learn anything from once in a blue moon training sessions with her older sister. She was far too occupied with her duties to the League to really take the time to teach her. Donna knew if she wanted to live up to Polybius, she would have to take matters into her own hands.

The one issue, however, was the near-constant supervision she had been under since she returned home. When her mother found out Montezuma was still at large, she highly suspected that he may try and attack the island again. And Donna would be his target. This left Donna really unable to do any training without her older sister around so they could go off and do it alone.

However, what neither Donna nor Polybius knew at that moment in time, was that Montezuma was drawing his final breath.

As the chair fell down from under him, his neck didn't snap like it was supposed to, leaving him to die a slow, painful death in his own home.

Ever since his failure to sacrifice Donna, he had not been in a good position. His Sun God had abandoned him. He lost his powers and everything granted for him. He couldn't dare to get a job due to him being wanted. He had nothing.

Deciding that he was better dead than alive, Monteuzm took some of the rope, the same rope he had used to kidnap Donna with, and tied a noose around his neck. Hanging himself in the basement where he once made all of his glorious sacrifices. And where he would lose his life at his own hands.

**And there you have it! Chapter 23 of The Terror of Silence.**

**Just as a heads up, there is about to be a major time change on my end, which will affect when I will be uploading. The schedule should be the same, however, the chapter will come 8 to 9 hours earlier in the day. I don't know exactly the day this will happen, it may be one of those things where I'll know three hours before it happens.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	24. Chapter 24: A New Age

_Chapter 24_

_A New Age..._

Watching Terra sacrifice herself was sad, to say the least. Where earlier that day she had made quick work of Polybius and the others, now she stood as nothing more than a stone statue with a plack at her feet.

Out of everyone, it hit Polybius the lightest. While the others were devastated by the loss of Terra, he wasn't. Aside from that one nature walk, the two took, that was all the hanging out they did. Other than that, it was all professional work.

Naturally, with Terra gone, and Slade's subsequent death, the team was afforded some breathing room. And while it did take the other five time to recover from the blow, about a month after it happened, things were back to normal. For the most part.

As for the man that visited Polybius, who he now dubbed Hostbius, he hadn't shown his face since that day in the room. That being said, Polybius didn't think that he was Darkbius, and rather they were two separate entities. Two entirely different people. And that they were working together.

Regardless if they were or weren't, they both had been spitting truth in Polybius's face. Polybius's faith and confidence in his team was lower than it had been before Beast Boy's deadliest prank. And while it had been recovering over time, Polybius didn't think he could trust his team the same ever again.

Then again, nobody was asking him to.

Regardless, during a routine bank robbery, the team ran into the HIVE kids again. This had been the first time they had seen each other since Slade's plot. And thus, it had led to Cyborg going undercover at the academy for a month.

And during this month, Polybius made a rather chilling discovery.

Towards the end of Cyborg assignment, Polybius was walking down the street that Montezuma had once lived on. His house, long abandoned and left exactly the way it was when he saved Donna.

Deciding to take a look around the place to try and get his mind off of Darkbius, the mute entered the abandoned home and began to look around. However, as soon as he opened the door, a putrid smell hit him like a freight train. A scent he was all too familiar with. The smell of rotting flesh.

Assuming the worst, Polybius drew out his stone club and slowly made his way through the home. His nose took him to the basement, whose light had been shut off.

Upon turning it on, Polybius was hit with a brief moment of shock upon seeing the sight in front of him.

What was in front of him was the body of a person who had hung themselves long ago. Polybius guessed about two months judging by the state of decay the body was in.

Looking around, Polybius found a suicide note.

'I have been abandoned. The Sun God has left me. The light is gone. All that is left for me is suffering. I cannot go on like this. May I be forgiven for what I have done. - Montezuma.'

The mute Titan then looked up at the dangling body. Careful not to touch it, he moved around to take a good look at the face to see if this person really was Montezuma. However, the face was too decayed to tell just by looking.

Deciding on a course of action, Polybius pulled out his phone.

'I found Montezuma.' Polybius texted Robin.

'Where is he!?' Robin quickly replied back.

'Dead.' Polybius replied.

'Dead?' Robin questioned.

'He killed himself. I have his suicide note to prove it.' Polybius explained.

'We're on our way.' Robin replied.

Just then, a flicker of the lights happened, and the body dropped from the ceiling, becoming a mess on the floor. The mute Titan wasn't remotely spooked by this as he moved to the next person he needed to contact.

'I found Montezuma.' Polybius texted Wonder Woman.

'Great! Do you have him under control?' Diana replied.

'He's dead. Suicide.' Polybius texted back.

'Oh.' Wonder Woman texted back.

There was a moment of pause before she sent anything else.

'Are you sure it's him?' Wonder Woman texted.

'I've got the suicide note.' Polybius said.

'He may have been murdered then.' Wonder Woman texted back.

'I don't think so. Unless there is something major we missed about him, the only people we know for a fact who would want him dead are all on your home island. And I highly doubt any of them did this.' Polybius texted back.

'You are right." Diana replied.

There was another pause before Wonder Woman texted him again.

'I'll let Donna know that he's been taken care of. As well as the rest of the Amazons.' She texted him.

'Do that.' Polybius said.

'There is also something else I have been meaning to talk to you about, but I'll reach out to you after you've dealt with the body.' Diana texted him, catching him off guard and guessing what it was.

'Roger.' Polybius texted back as he put his phone away.

Upon arrival, Robin agreed with Polybius that this was indeed Montezuma's body. And that the Aztec warrior was dead. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven also did a quick search of the house to see if they could find anything else. However, their search turned up nothing.

The man's body was turned over to the authorities and cremated. His body was then put in a simple unmarked grave in the Jump City cemetery.

About a week after Cyborg came back to the team from his undercover mission, Donna found herself just mindlessly watching the water flow downstream. She was bored out of her mind. Ever since she had left man's world, she was bored with what she had here. There was so much more to do and see out there than there was this island. And she longed to see her friends again.

As Donna watched the water flow, her older sister's voice greeted her.

"Hey Donna." Diana greeted as she walked up beside her.

"Diana!" Donna greeted happily "What are you doing here!? I thought you weren't coming until next week."

"Well, I have some good news." Diana said, "News that just couldn't wait until next week."

"Oh?" Donna questioned, "What is it?"

"Polybius found Montezuma." Diana replied.

"Really!?" Donna asked excitedly.

"He did." Diana replied.

"Thank the gods!" Donna said, "So has he said what they are going to do to him?"

"Well, from my understanding, they cremated him." Diana replied.

"Cremated?" Donna asked, confused, "You mean, he's dead?"

"Polybius found Montezuma dead." Diana explained.

"How did he die!?" Donna asked.

"He killed himself." Diana replied, "I think Polybius said he hung himself and left a small suicide note."

Donna took a moment to take it all in. Montezuma, the man who had caused her so much pain, was now gone! And burning in Tartarus!

"So, now what?" Donna asked her older sister, "Am I actually going to get that training you've been talking about?"

"You'll be getting more of it, yes." Diana said, "You'll also won't be under constant supervision anymore, allowing you to do things on your own easier."

"Oh great!" Donna said "I will actually get to spend some time alone! Not like that matters because I'm still here! Not doing anything…"

Diana couldn't help but feel her younger sister's pain. She knew what it was like to want to leave.

"Well…" Diana said, pulling out her cellphone, "Let's see if I can get ahold of Polybius."

"Like you can even get service here." Donna commented.

"Oh you'll be surprised." Diana said as she texted Polybius.

'You got a moment?' Diana texted the mute.

'Yeah. Just finished up training for the day, so I'm just chilling. What's up?' Polybius quickly replied.

"Want to talk to him?" Diana asked, holding up her phone.

Donna looked over at her sister's phone to see that she was, indeed, texting him.

"Yes!" Donna quickly replied.

"Here you go, sister." Diana said, "I'm going to go talk to our mother. See if maybe I can get you a slot as a sidekick."

Diana then got up and walked away, leaving Donna her phone to chat with Polybius.

'Polybius, this is Donna! Diana just handed me her phone, so we could chat.' Donna texted her friend.

'Sweet!' Polybius quickly shot back.

Donna couldn't help but have a massive smile on her face as she was finally able to text her friend and hero.

'I've missed you so much!' Donna quickly texted.

'I've missed you a lot too.' Polybius replied.

'So how have you been?' Donna texted.

'Been better.' Polybius texted back.

'What's wrong?' Donna asked.

'I've just been frustrated with the others lately. Beast Boy had a prank that got out of hand, and it almost got me killed.' Polybius explained.

'Great Hera! Are you okay!?' Donna asked.

'Yeah. Once they got a liquified health mix down in me, the pain that caused me to go into shock quickly dissipated.' Polybius replied.

'Well thank the gods you're alright.' Donna replied.

'So how about you?' Polybius texted back.

'I've been frustrated too.' Donna admitted.

'Oh?' Polybius texted back.

'It's just after seeing you and everything you and the Titans do, combined with what Diana does, it made me feel inspired to be a hero too.' Donna revealed.

'A hero?' Polybius questioned.

'Yeah. Diana has been training me to be a Wonder Girl. However, ever since I have returned home, I have been under constant supervision, and Diana has been too busy to train me.' Donna admitted.

'I'm sorry to hear that. However, in case you didn't know, Montezuma is dead. I wouldn't be too surprised if they relax all of that.' Polybius texted.

'I know.' Donna replied.

'Well if there was anything I could do to help, you know I would. However, seeing the situation, I would only cause more harm than good.' Polybius texted.

'I wish you could help.' Donna said.

'But if that is so, then I bet Diana is working on something to help you get off.' Polybius texted back.

'Like my mother would ever let me step foot off this island again after what happened last time.' Donna replied.

'Never say never.' Polybius texted back.

On Polybius's end, as he sat in his room texting Donna, two people only he could see were standing behind him. However, at that moment in time, they were only watching him. They weren't revealing themselves to the mute Titan.

"Are you serious?" Darkbius asked Hostbius.

"He's really texting, Donna…" Hostbius replied.

"Gosh dang it!" Darkbius shouted.

"What do we do now?" Hostbius asked, "If he's talking to Donna, then his hope is getting restored! That makes our job much more difficult."

"We can work with it." Darkbius stated, "I've worked with situations where he is more hopeful than he is now."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Hostbius asked.

"We wait." Darkbius answered, "We wait until something slightly bad happens with one of the others, or better yet, Donna! From there, all we have to do is just blow it up and make it seem far worse than it actually is."

"So, what do we do until then?" Hostbius asked.

"You got them UNO cards, right?" Darkbius asked.

Meanwhile, back on Donna's end, she was too absorbed in her conversation with Polybius to hear the footsteps coming up behind her. However, the voice caught her attention.

"Donna!" Her mother called out.

Donna almost jumped out of her skin when she heard her mother call her name. She jumped so bad that she lost control of the phone and dropped it. But before she could pick it up and attempt to hide it, her mother was on her.

"Donna!" Her mother called out, "There you are!"

"What is it, mother?" Donna asked, attempting to use her body to hide the phone on the ground.

"Listen to me, child, but you will never set foot in man's world again! Do you hear me!?" Her mother quickly stated.

"Mom!" Donna said.

"No!" Her mother replied, "I suggest you forget whatever friends you made out there because you are not going to be seeing them anytime soon."

"Mother, please!" Diana attempted to intervene but was silenced.

"No!" Their mother quickly replied, "After everything that has happened to this island in the past year, I am seriously considering forbidding you from leaving Diana!"

"Mom calm down!" Donna quickly said.

"No!" Her mother declared, "I am already risking losing one child! I will not risk the other."

"I'm not even your child!" Donna countered, "You adopted me! I wasn't even born here!"

"That may be true, but we, no I, raised you! We have given you a perfect place to live, away from the evils of man's world! Why would you want to leave!?"

"It's like my friend said, I don't want what happened to me to happen to other people!" Donna countered.

"Well it doesn't matter what you want! What matters is your safety! And Donna Troy, you are not leaving this island ever again, and that's final!" Her mother finished the argument.

"That's not fair!" Donna said.

"Life isn't fair." Her mother replied.

And with that, she promptly turned around and left the two sisters speechless.

"I'm sorry, Donna." Diana tried to say.

"No." Donna said, tears forming in her eyes, "It's not your fault."

Meanwhile, back at the tower, Polybius was left totally in the dark as to what was going on. All he knew is that Donna had just suddenly stopped responding for whatever reason. He assumed it was probably something important, and she or, at the very least, Diana would get back to him soon.

And with that, he looked back over to his laptop and began getting back into his search of Mount Jackson.

However, it wasn't long until his phone went off again.

'You still there?' Either Donna or Diana texted him.

'Still here. Is this still Donna?' Polybius texted back.

'No. It's Diana. Donna's off crying right now.' She texted.

'Why!?' Polybius replied immediately.

'Our mother. I don't know how much you know, or if Donna has told you, but she was very inspired by you. In fact, you are the one who inspired her to be a hero with your reasoning behind why you fight really spoke to her. She now wants to do the same thing, and I have been trying to get that to happen, but our mother just put her foot down and flat out said no. And that she is forbidden from leaving the island ever again.' Diana texted.

'That sucks!' Polybius texted back.

'I know.' Diana replied.

'Can't she like, sneak off or something? I don't want to encourage bad things, but if she's willing to pick up the torch for the greater good, then I'm inclined to encourage this.' Polybius texted back.

'That may not be a bad idea.' Diana said, 'Perhaps I'll help her sneak off the island so she can come to you guys and train.'

'I don't think that's a good idea. The reason being the time difference would make it too obvious to your mom, or her too tired to effectively train.' Polybius texted back.

'Then maybe if she got a surprise visit from you?' Diana texted back.

'I don't think that's a good idea either. Honestly, I think being on an island full of women who want to do bad things to me would make me lose my nerve.' Polybius responded.

'You scared?' Diana questioned.

'Despite what everybody would have you believe, especially after the Wick Scary night, I too have fears. I am also afraid of things, however irrational they may seem.' Polybius texted back.

'Well there has to be something we can do!' Diana said.

'Isn't the Third Balkan War raging on right now?' Polybius texted.

'Yes. Why does that matter?' Diana asked.

'Just tell the League that you are helping the fighting going on in the region when in reality, you are training Donna.' Polybius texted back.

'You would have me lie to the League?' Diana texted back.

'The way I see it, if Donna really wants to do this, and you really want to help her, I say take advantage of a situation to do so. That way, everybody will be off your back, and if you can just keep it hidden away from your mother, then you really should have no problems.' Polybius texted back.

There was a long pause before he got a text back from Diana.

'I hate to say it, but you're right. And since the Third Balkan War shows no signs of going anywhere and it being so close to my home, it would make the perfect excuse.' Diana replied.

'Exactly!' Polybius pressed.

'I think I'm going to take your advice.' Diana replied.

The mute Titan pumped his fists into the air when he saw this text come in. He was happy for Donna.

"And that's not a good thing." Darkbius said as Hostbius beat him in UNO.

"What?" Hostbius asked, "That I beat you, or what's going on in that text conversation?"

"The latter." Darkbius stated, "I was wrong earlier. If Donna is going to be this thing that always pumps him up, then we need something to constantly tear him down."

"How are we going to do that?" Hostbius asked.

"I think I've got an idea. But we'll be needing another body." Darkbius said.

"We got to kill someone?" Hostbius asked.

"No." Darkbius answered, "We need somebody to put in that Red X suit."

"Why not one of us take it for a joy ride!" Hostbius said.

"No." Darkbius stated, "Between my natural demeanor and your speech pattern, he'll make the connection. We don't want him to do that. Also, that suit is a little small for us."

"Then what about…" Hostbius thought.

"No." Darkbius cut him off "It can't be one of us. Perhaps though, there is somebody we can manipulate."

"And who would that be?" Hostbius asked.

"I know just the guy." Darkbius stated.

That night, a teen very familiar to Polybius laid in his bed sleeping. On his wall was a picture of the mute Titan with a knife in his forehead and arm cut off. Next to it was the famous Donna and Polybius picture, except his face, had been taped over Polybius's to make it look like he stole Donna from him.

However, that teen was sleeping right now. It was the teen who Polybius had broken his arm three times. He tossed and turned in bed before suddenly bolting up.

"Nathan…" A voice called out to him in the darkness.

"Who's there!" Nathan called out.

"Now don't get hostile, baby!" The voice called out, sounding like a sexy woman, "I'm here to help you!"

"Show yourself!" The teen demanded.

"I can't do that, babe! At least not yet. Otherwise, you'll get too distracted by my massive tits and dummy thicc thighs and ass to pay attention to what I have to tell you." The voice called back.

"Yeah, right. You sound like my ex that left me for Polybius." Nathan replied.

"Oh, so you don't like my voice?" The voice asked before suddenly changing itself, "I can change that."

"Who are you?" The teen asked, taken off guard by the voice change.

"I'm a, what you might call a build-a-babe." The voice replied, "Kind of like build a bear, except you get to build a hot, sexy woman instead who will love you forever and never leave you."

"Build-a-babe?" The teen question.

"I can be whatever you want to be. I can make myself look so sexy that I'll make any Amazon, even Wonder Woman herself look like Smeagol compared to me!" The voice called back "And I'll do whatever you want. And I know you crave anal. I'll do that for you."

"This is getting kinda creepy." The teen commented.

"Creepy, because I can't reveal myself to you." The voice said, "But I need you to do some things for me. And then I can reveal myself to you."

The teen thought about it as an erection formed in his pants. His second head began clouding his first, and he couldn't help but bow to its will.

"What do you want?" The teen asked.

"Take this." The voice said.

Then without warning, Nathan suddenly found himself in the suit of Red X.

"Woah." The teen said.

"You'll also need this." The voice said.

Nathan suddenly had a headache that lasted for a minute. However, once it was over, he suddenly felt far more knowledgeable in fighting than he had the moment prior.

"What are you doing to me?" He asked.

"Giving you the tools to success!" The voice teased, "However, I need to give you a small test to see if you can really win this build-a-babe."

"And what is your test?" Nathan asked.

**Chapter 24. Done. I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	25. Chapter 25: Kick Yourself

_Chapter 25_

_Kick Yourself..._

"And there is once again, no sign of Red X." Beast Boy called to Robin over the communicator, annoyed that he had looked over the mountain three times.

Red X, now back as his high school persona, as Nathan sat in his room and looked at the suit he had been gifted.

"It was only a partial failure." The teen told himself.

"If you consider a partial failure being losing your belt that controlled most of the gadgets at your disposal." The voice suddenly called out to him.

"So, what now?" Nathan asked.

"Well you certainly aren't getting this build-a-babe yet!" The voice said, "But here you go."

Suddenly, the belt reappeared on the uniform.

"Go figure." Nathan commented.

"But, you did achieve what I wanted you to do." The voice said.

"I did?" Nathan questioned.

"Yes." The voice said, "You got the attention of the Titans. And quite frankly, that's all I really wanted you to do."

"Man, I thought I was going to be killing the Titans." Nathan replied, "I mean, trashing Polybius was fun and all, but what was the point of making take on that persona of a petty thief?"

"You mean is." The voice corrected, "If you bluntly said that you want to kill Polybius, then you will suddenly find yourself on the top of the Titan's priority list."

"So?" The teen asked, "This suit has the power to kill him."

"Which is something you will not do." The voice commanded, "You will not kill. You will do as I say when I say, or you are going to have far worse consequences in store for you then what I'm about to do to you."

Suddenly the teen felt his stomach enter one of the worst aches he had ever felt. He grasped onto his stomach and let out a cry of pain as he dropped to the floor.

"You see, Nathan, I am more powerful than you could possibly comprehend. And one thing you're gonna learn real quick is that I don't tolerate failure." The voice stated.

Suddenly the teen felt his stomach settle as he recovered.

"The thing is, I don't really like to do that kind of stuff to my pawns." The voice went on "In fact, I'd much rather do things to people they care about. So unless you want your mommy's kidneys to fail, you had better live up to the power I have bestowed upon you!" The voice commanded.

"I- I will!" Nathan assured, "Please don't hurt my mom!"

"Then just do what I need you to do then." The voice told him.

Meanwhile, back at Titans tower, Polybius was sitting in his room looking up more about Mount Jackson. However, when a knock on the door pulled his attention, he was caught off guard when he saw nobody there. Instead, he saw arrows on the ground, pointing him in the direction of the main room.

The mute was apprehensive about following this. This had bad news written all over it, and he hated it. He had a high feeling that some bad guy was waiting to jump out at him. So as an extra precaution, he carried his stone club with him.

Slowly making his way down the hall, Polybius was on high alert. Everything about this was telling him that something wasn't right.

As predicted, the trail ended in the main room. Standing at the door to the main room, the mute Titan prepared himself for whatever criminal he was about to face. And with a deep breath, he walked in calmly.

And was completely taken off guard by what he saw.

Rather than finding some demented criminal holding the Titan hostage or an empty room, he found all of the Titans standing there.

"Finally!" Cyborg shouted, "The party is here!"

The mute Titan shot him a confused look as he looked around the room. In the kitchen, he saw Cyborg's famous eight-layer cake. Up at the couch, he saw video games set up and ready to go. And over at the dining table, he saw Starfire's arts and crafts box. And standing in the middle of the room looking at him were all five Titans.

"It is time for the fun to begin!" Starfire declared happily.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said.

The mute Titan blinked a few times as his mind tried to come up with a solution for this.

"He's confused." Raven stated.

The mute nodded.

"Alright, I guess we should explain ourselves." Robin said, "Go ahead and take a seat, Polybius!"

The mute Titan then did as he was told and sat on the couch and looked at his five teammates.

"So you remember a few months ago where I almost accidentally killed you?" Beast Boy asked.

Just to mess with him, Polybius shook his head no.

"No?" Beast Boy questioned.

Polybius then did a facepalm before shaking his fist at the green Titan.

"He's telling you, of course, he remembers it." Raven translated, "And is calling you an idiot for believing he didn't."

"Well, we all talked about it and…" Beast Boy started before getting cut off by Robin.

"And we have decided that we all owe you an apology." Robin finished.

The mute Titan raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we've all been looking at how we've been treatin you." Cyborg said.

"And we have been terrible friends!" Starfire proclaimed.

"And the fact that you're still with us says a lot." Raven added.

"So we decided to show you how much we appreciate you!" Beast Boy said, "With a Polybius appreciation day!"

The Titans then all gave Polybius a big smile as he just stared at them. He could feel his blood pressure rising as his anger swelled. An appreciation day, to him, sounded like a slap in the face. Proving Darkbius and Hostbius, right!

The mute Titan must have had a blank look on his face as the Titans had no clue how angry he was.

"Well?" Beast Boy asked.

The mute Titan threw his hands up in rage and stormed out of the room.

"Polybius! Wait!" Robin called out, catching up to Polybius.

Just as the mute exited the room, he felt Robin's hand land on his shoulder. This prompted the mute to stop and look back to see all five Titan standing there.

"Come on, at least text us why you're mad." Robin asked.

The mute Titan nodded and whipped out his phone and communicator. He then looked at the masked leader and tossed them at him. The leader caught it as Polybius turned his back on his team and left the tower, leaving the team guessing where it all went wrong.

The mute Titan left the tower and headed for Jump City. From there, he headed out towards the forest for comfort. He needed to calm his nerves before he went back.

He took a leaned up against a random tree and sunk to the ground. He didn't have his backpack with him, so it made sliding down the tree much more comfortable. And for a long time, just sat in total silence save for the wind blowing through the leaves.

This lasted for a long while as his nerves settled down. However, he would be brought out of this by a series of footsteps. He assumed it was his team coming and looking for him, so just sat there and waited for them to pass.

However, he was surprised to see that it wasn't his team, but rather a group of teens, all around his age, walking through.

"Hey Marc! Check it out!" One of them shouted, "It's Polybius!"

The mute Titan saw the group moving over to him. Two males. He didn't get a bad vibe just by looking at them and didn't suspect any trouble.

"Aw yeah!" The other one said.

The group then walked up to him, and he stood up to greet them. The mute Titan shook their hands as they introduced themselves.

"My name's Marc." The first one greeted.

"Rayanus." The second greeted.

The mute Titan then noticed that they, just like him, were all wearing black jackets.

"Say, are you in the middle of a mission right now?" Marc asked, "Cause if you are, then we don't want to get in the way of that."

The mute shook his head.

"Awesome!" Rayanus said, "Well first off, I've gotta say, it's a true honor and pleasure to meet you, Polybius."

"Yeah." Marc added.

The mute Titan smiled as the teens continued to talk.

"Man, you are our hero!" Rayanus declared, causing a mute to raise an eyebrow.

"Dude, how you make the scariest monsters run from you is freaking awesome!" Marc added, "Man, we wish we could be you!"

The mute let out a silent chuckle as the two had no clue. Absolutely zero about the pure hell his life was and had been.

"Say, if you aren't busy, Rayanus has got this new Super Uno game. And would you like to sit down and join us for a game?" Marc offered.

The mute Titan had to think about Super Uno for a moment. He then remembered it was this how now portable and foldable computer system that essentially gave you four Uno players wherever you went. It was programmed with bots and different modes.

The mute nodded.

"Sweet!" Marc said, "This is gonna be the best Uno game we ever played."

"Hell yeah!" Rayanus agreed.

Setting it up, the trio played with a bot named 'Classy.' Polybius quickly learned to hate that bot. It seemed that every chance 'she' would get, she would screw him over. The other two found his rage towards the bot quite amusing.

"Come on, man." Marc said between laughs, "Can't you do one nice thing for Classy?"

The mute Titan, who was also silently laughing, shook his head as he hit her with a no choice plus four.

The mute Titan then thought he heard something coming up behind them. He looked back to see that there was no one there. He then looked back to see he had gone from three cards to fifteen.

Polybius went wide-eyed as the other two began to laugh. He looked away for two seconds, and now he has fifteen cards.

"You okay there, buddy?" Rayanus asked.

The mute shot up a playful middle finger, causing them all to laugh.

Polybius then hit them all with a red zero, causing Marc's four-card hand to come to him.

"Woah now Polybius!" Marc said, "You've got some real power going over there."

The hand had two wild draw fours.

"Here, let me give you some time to think about that." Marc said as he hit him with a skip.

The mute gave him a thumbs-up as he looked at all of the power he had to unleash on Classy.

Sadly, this wouldn't come to pass as a loud explosion coming from the city grabbed the trio's attention.

"Ah, man!" Marc said, "And to think of all that power we just gave you."

The mute Titan then took out his notebook. He wrote down his cellphone number and handed it off to them. He also told them that he wanted to hang out again sometime, and they quickly agreed to hang out again.

And with that, Polybius took off.

The call turned out to be just Dr. Bright doing another bank robbery. And with Polybius being the first one there, he was able to quickly take down the criminal using his powers. And just as he handed the man over to the authorities, he was visited by the Titans.

"Polybius?" Starfire questioned.

The mute Titan looked back to see his colleagues standing, looking nervous. He shrugged his shoulders as he waited for them to say something.

"Look, we know we haven't been good friends." Cyborg stated.

"And that we mistreat you a lot." Raven added.

"But please." Beast Boy added.

"Don't walk out on us." Robin went on.

"You're our friend!" Starfire said, "And friends stick together no matter what."

The mute shrugged his shoulders again. He had heard all of these things before from them. Yet he found himself not believing them.

"Please don't leave." Starfire begged.

The mute wasn't going to do that. He didn't have anywhere to go after all.

There was a long moment of silence as the Titans waited to see what Polybius would do. When he didn't do anything, this prompted Robin to do something. He offered his hand to the mute.

"Please, Polybius." Robin added, "You are a valued member of this team. Not only that, but you're our friend. And we'd all be devastated if we lost you."

Suddenly, Raven's words surfaced in his mind.

"People come, people go. It's pointless to be upset."

However, then the words of Darkbius rose up.

"They don't care about you." The voice of Darkbius said, "You are their plaything. They are going to build you up to tear you down again!"

As much as the mute hated Darkbius. He couldn't help but think he was right.

"Come on, man!" Cyborg suddenly spoke up, "At least give us a chance to make it up to you!"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy added.

The mute Titan looked at his team and then down at Robin's hand. He pondered whether or not he really wanted to give them another chance.

After spending another long moment in silence and arguing inside his head, the mute Titan decided to take Robin's hand.

"Alright!" Cyborg said, "Come on y'all let's get home and celebrate!"

With that, the Titans headed back to the tower, and they did anything and everything to make it up to Polybius. And while Polybius certainly did feel better by the end, it all. He couldn't deny that the rift that had formed between him and them still existed.

And this remained prevalent over the next several months. And while it did become smaller and smaller after each and every event, it never went away. Nor did Polybius ever think it would go away. He knew his faith and confidence in his team was forever severely diminished.

However, when Cyborg left to help establish the Titans East out in Steel City, Robin began discussing turning the Titans into a global organization like the Justice League. He expressed his wishes to fight evil on a more global scale than just Jump City. And he wanted Polybius's opinion on this idea.

The mute Titan supported going global. He liked the concept of having allies all over the place rather than all in one place.

As for Marc and Rayanus, Polybius ended up growing a solid friendship with the two teens. Whenever he got mad at his team, he would go and hang out with them. This gave him a better escape than being left alone with his thoughts in the woods. Although, when the two weren't available, Polybius would always settle for the forest.

Then again, he had learned he was never alone.

As for Darkbius and Hostbius, Polybius had learned that they were always there. They were always with him, influencing him. Guiding him. And telling him things. But mostly, telling him to go back.

As for Donna, she had been tirelessly training for months on end with Diana. Polybius's excuse of the Third Balkan War was one exploited by Diana. However, now it was looking like the war may start winding down. And with that, Diana would lose her excuse to train Donna.

"But I'm ready!" Donna said.

"Almost." Diana told her sister after another training session.

"You said that last month." Donna complained.

"Don't worry, little sister." Diana assured her, "You will get your chance in the field soon enough."

"But when?" Donna asked.

"The time will come." Diana assured her.

Donna sighed as she didn't believe her older sister.

"So, how are things going with the League?" Donna asked, changing the topic.

"Well crime globally has been kinda low recently." Diana replied, "Of course, with the Titans starting to move in the direction of going Global, it has helped us significantly."

"The Titans are going global?" Donna asked.

"That seems to be the direction Robin is taking them." Diana explained, "In my last conversation with Polybius, he expressed to me that Robin was moving that direction. And with the establishment of the Titans East, it really seems to be heading that way."

"Then maybe I should become a Titan." Donna said out loud.

"What!?" Diana said a little surprised, "Why not join the League!?"

"Because I was thinking about it the other night, that if I go with the League, then I will always be in your shadow." Donna explained, "Just Wonder Woman's little sister. Kinda like how Supergirl is seen compared to Superman."

Diana knew her younger sister wasn't wrong. Supergirl had a hard time living in her older, more famous cousin's shadow.

"So you want to join the Titans?" Diana asked.

"If they really are headed in the global direction, then I could sneak out and go do things in nearby Greece and Turkey!" Donna proposed.

"You are quite optimistic." Diana commented, "But that is a good idea. You can cover this area for the Titans."

"Sweet!" Donna said, "I just wish I could see them again."

"You will." Diana said.

"How?" Donna questioned, "Polybius pointed out all of the problems with me going all the way over to Jump City. And then all of the problems them coming over here. I just don't see how it could work out."

"I'm confident you'll see them again." Diana replied, "Almost every time I think I've seen someone for the last time, they pop up again."

"I hope you're right." Donna said.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	26. Chapter 26: Still Here

_Chapter 26_

_Still Here..._

Donna shot up covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. Looking around the room she was in, she realized that she had another nightmare. Her heart rate began to lower as she calmed down.

"Montezuma…" Donna muttered to herself as she relaxed and turned towards her window.

"Yes, it's me." A voice came from behind her.

Donna spun around to see a very familiar man standing in the corner of her room, looking right at her.

"Hi there, Cortés." Montezuma greeted as he waved at her, "Ready for round two."

Donna locked up in fear as he began to approach her. Her nerves quickly got the best of her as her breathing began to pick up.

"You're not real!" Donna told him, "You can't! Polybius said you were dead!"

"Oh, that is true. I am dead." Montezuma said, "But I will always be a part of you."

"No…" Donna said.

"Yes!" Montezuma said, "Everywhere you go, I'll be there."

"No!" Donna said louder.

"Oh, come on." Montezuma said, "You may be too stubborn or too stupid to realize it now, but one thing you will learn is that I am forever a part of you. The mark I have left on your mind will always be there. And the best part about this is nobody can help you! Especially that dumbass Polybius."

"Don't talk bad about him!" Donna ordered.

"Oh! Struck a nerve." Montezuma commented, "But let's be real here, you are really dumb to think that he's your friend."

"Shut up!" Donna ordered, "You're not real! You don't know anything about him or me!"

"Do I?" Montezuma asked, "You'd be surprised to discover what I do and do not know about both of you. Like how Polybius is a cold-hearted monster. Or how you're just a weak, scared little girl."

"Shut up!" Donna said loudly, but not at the point of shouting.

"Face it, Cortés! Face the truth! The truth is that you are weak. Aren't you Amazons supposed to be strong independent women. Who don't need no men? Well, you are the exception to that rule. You ain't one of them. Had it not been for Wonder Woman, you wouldn't be here."

"I'm not weak!" Donna replied.

"Oh, really?" Montezuma asked, "The way I see it, from the day you were born, you have had people saving you. From when you were just an infant and Wonder Woman saved you from that fire and brought you here. From all the times, your sisters bailed you out on this island. To when I kidnapped you, and you couldn't fight or escape me. Why you acted like a scared little bitch when I captured you. Barely putting up any resistance. Pathic! But that's typical of you."

"No, it's not!" Donna countered.

"Is it?" Montezuma asked, "It was Polybius who had to save you from me. Face it, you've been the damsel in distress your whole life. Always being saved and not the savior like you now crave to be."

"And I am going to change that!" Donna countered.

"No." Montezuma countered, "No. While some people were made to be saviors, you weren't. To put it in terms you may understand: There are three types of people in this world. Sheeps, dogs, and wolves. The sheep need to be protected from the wolves, and the dogs do that. And you, Cortés, are a sheep while Polybius is a dog, and I'm the wolf."

"I'm not a dumb sheep!" Donna replied, "That's not true!"

"Oh, it is." Montezuma countered, "You are no Amazon, and will never be the strong hero you want to be! And at the end of the day, you will be all alone once your sisters realize how much of a disappointment you are! But don't worry. I will always be here with you, Cortés. You'll always have me."

"Shut up!" Donna shouted, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"And Polybius will abandon you." Montezuma went on, "Once he realizes that all he is putting all this time and effort into someone as deplorable as yourself, he will leave you. Polybius is known for cutting ties after all."

"SHUT UP!" Donna shouted as she began to cry.

"Never." Montezuma replied.

After this, her mother came bursting through the door to her room, causing Montezuma to fade away into nothingness. Donna was sitting on her bed, crying, and her mother moved to comfort her.

"Are you alright, Donna?" Her mother asked her as she came to her side.

"No!" Donna quickly replied.

Her mother quickly wrapped an arm around her to comfort her as Donna continued to cry.

"What's wrong?" Her mother asked in a warm tone.

"I'm sorry, mother." Donna replied.

"Sorry for what?" Her mother asked.

"For being such a failure." Donna replied.

"What are you talking about?" Her mother asked, "You are no failure."

"Yes, I am!" Donna countered, "I'm not a strong independent woman like you want me to be. Like my sisters. I'm weak and helpless."

"Who told you that!?" Her mother demanded.

"Montezuma." Donna replied.

"Well, that's certainly not true!" Her mother countered, "I can't believe you would believe him for even a second."

"But, he's right!" Donna countered, "Since the day I was born, I've always had to have other people save me. From Diana to my sisters here to Polybius. Somebody has always had to stick their neck out for me! I'm just a sheep waiting to be hunted down and killed by wolves when the dogs finally got to sleep."

"You are no sheep." Her mother replied, "You are a dog, I promise you that."

"How?" Donna asked, "All I do is sit here all day and wait for the next thing to happen if it happens."

"Donna, listen to me." Her mother told her, "You are far stronger than you give yourself credit for. You underwent six months of torture without any relief. You were trapped in his basement for a long time, and you survived. That seems pretty strong to your sisters and me."

"And?" Donna asked, "All that means is I'm a strong sheep."

"No!" Her mother said, "I've heard what happened to you, and I know from my long experience that there are a lot of people, men, and women alike, who couldn't survive the kind of torture you went through. And you should be proud and grateful you came out alive."

"Really?" Donna asked, looking up at her mother.

"Yes." Her mother replied with a warm smile.

While Donna and her mother shared a warm moment, back on the East Coast of the United States, things weren't so warm.

The Titans had gotten a garbled distress call from Cyborg about Brother Blood. And while they were all extremely upset with him for leaving, they knew they couldn't turn their backs on him. So they all hopped in the T ship and took off for him.

On their way there, Polybius couldn't help but think about how angry he was at Cyborg for leaving. This wasn't the first time he had done this, but this one was by far the most serious.

In Polybius's mind, he thought that Darkbius and Hostbius were right. And in that little ride, the two had in that 1940s Ford car was all lies. Cyborg had just told him that and kept telling him that over and over to fool Polybius. And Polybius hated being fooled.

Regardless, he knew he had to go along on this mission. There was a part of him that was telling him that Cyborg's decision had nothing to do with the mute. Instead, it was purely based on his desire to be the leader of the Titans. And now being offered his chance with his own team, he had to take it, regardless of what Polybius or the others felt. And if that was the case, Polybius had to respect that.

That didn't matter now as the Titans East tower came into view, and the team went into mission mode.

Meanwhile, back in Jump City, Nathan stood naked in his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He had a dead look in his eyes as he just looked endlessly into the mirror.

"This is getting ridiculous." The voice of the build-a-babe said, "I don't understand what is wrong with you? I give you simple tasks, and yet you manage to screw them up."

"I know." Nathan replied in a monotone voice

"And I don't think your mommy could take much more to what I have been doing." The voice added.

"I know." Nathan replied again, the same tone.

"But, now that I have you under this new sense of control and guidance, maybe now you'll listen to me. And then you can get your personality back!" The voice declared.

"Yay." Nathan replied with zero enthusiasm in his voice.

"Okay." The voice started, "I'm going to give you a simple task, and if you win, you'll get your personality back for a few hours before I turn you back into this zombie. Alright?"

"Yes." Nathan replied.

Hours later, back in Steel City, Polybius looked up at Cyborg with a confused look. Despite beating Brother Blood, he was still unsure of the other Titan.

"Something wrong, Polybius?" Cyborg asked.

The mute nodded but didn't bother to pull out his notebook or phone to elaborate on it. Instead, he just turned around and walked away.

"Yo!" Cyborg called out, "Dude, hold up! Tell me what's wrong."

Polybius looked back and texted Cyborg that the two would talk about it back at the tower alone. After that, Polybius got back on the T ship and waited for them to leave.

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna woke up and looked around her room. After last night, she had been on edge. She could hardly sleep and really had just been lying awake with her eyes closed for the rest of the night after her mother left.

She wished she could reach out and contact Polybius. While her mother was comforting, Polybius always seemed to know how to handle her situations far better than anyone else.

Then again, by reaching out to him, she knew she was proving Montezuma right. She was supposed to be a strong independent woman. She wasn't supposed to need Polybius. She was an Amazon. Not some weak little girl who was waiting for a prince charming to save her.

"What's wrong with me?" Donna asked herself as she looked in her mirror.

Shaking her head, Donna laid back down in her bed. She had zero motivation to do anything today. All she wanted to do was lay down and forget about Montezuma and what he said. Even though it was all true, and she knew it.

A few hours later, back in Jump City, Polybius and Cyborg sat in the former's room in the rocking chairs, and Polybius began to text Cyborg his problems.

'So back when we had that little car ride in that 1940s vehicle. Tell me, were you serious and truthful about what you said, or were you lying to me?' Polybius texted to put it as bluntly as possible.

"I don't understand what you're asking." Cyborg replied, "Why would I lie to you."

Polybius then went on to explain that this wasn't the first time that Cyborg and left the team but by far the most serious. And Polybius was growing tired of seeing the same cycle happen over and over. He expressed that he thought that Cyborg needed to make up his mind about this team and stop sending everyone on this roller coaster of emotions he had been putting them on.

"Look, Polybius, I'm sorry that I made you all feel this way." Cyborg said, "But I think that this previous time was my last time leaving the team."

The mute shook his head. This wasn't the first time he had heard that. In fact, he had heard that every time Cyborg and left, which by this point in time, was a total of five times.

"Look, Polybius, I'm so sorry." Cyborg said again, "However, at the time, it just seemed like it was a better option for me. Ya know. I'd get my own team, be my own leader, become a man! But now I realize that I don't need that to be one. I am already a man. No, a strong man!"

Going to his phone, Polybius texted back a response.

'A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others.' Polybius texted.

"I do stand up for others." Cyborg replied.

The mute shook his head.

'In some ways. But honestly, I feel like the people you screw over the most are us. I'm not going to go into detail about the others, but we always seem to be at the receiving end of your crap. And you love to take it out on us. And I'm growing tired of it! I hate it when people play with emotions, yet to me, that is all you seem to be doing. Saying one thing and then doing another thing that doesn't counterbalance what you said.' Polybius texted.

Cyborg was quiet for a long time before he responded.

"You are right." Cyborg finally replied, "I have been a terrible friend to everyone, especially you. And I understand why you don't believe me when I say one thing because I often do a different thing. But while I may be half robot, I am still half-human, which means I make mistakes, and we all got problems."

Polybius then stood up and texted Cyborg one last thing before exiting his own room to go tend to his garden.

"Everybody's got their problems. Everybody is going to say the same thing to you. It just matters how you solve them. And what are you going to do?" Cyborg read the text out loud.

Meanwhile, back in Nathan's home, he laid in his bed, just coming back from a successful mission. It was by far one of the worst pains he had ever experienced. And while he did complete his mission, he still hadn't been given his personality back yet.

"Good." The voice said, "You actually did something right! I'm slightly impressed. It's taken you long enough."

"Thanks." Nathan replied in a monotone voice.

"Well, to prove to you that I am a voice of my word, I will grant you your personality back." The voice said.

Nathan then blinked his eyes a few times before sitting up in his bed.

"What the hell?" Nathan asked, "Why did you do to me?"

You know why." The voice stated, "But anyway, if you keep succeeding, then you will get your personality back permanently."

"Why are you holding that hostage?" Nathan asked.

"Because." The voice said, "I need to do a few things to you, like deflate your ego."

"I don't have a big ego." Nathan said.

"And that is exactly why I am doing this for you." The voice said.

Nathan shook his head before changing the subject of the conversation.

"So this persona of a thief I have been taking on." Nathan said, "Why am I doing it again?"

"Because it's all part of the plan." The voice replied, "And you'll understand once this is complete."

"Man, I'm so sick and tired of playing these games!" Nathan said, "Just leave me alone. Please."

"Nope!" The voice said happily, "Not until you have fulfilled your role in my plans."

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna sat on the steps of the temple, still shaken by what had happened the night before. She was spacing out when a familiar friend took a seat next to her.

"Hey, Donna." The friend said, startling her, "You alright? Didn't mean to startle you."

"Yeah, Zenobia, I'm fine." Donna replied.

Before Donna had been kidnapped, Zenobia was her best friend. Donna wasn't the only girl saved by her older sister Diana and brought to the island. She had brought quite a few girls to the island in her time. Donna was lucky that she was the first one, so she got taken in by the queen.

"Don't try to fool me." Zenobia said, "We've been friends for too long, and I know when something's up."

"I just had a horrible nightmare about him last night." Donna half lied, "That's all."

"Him?" Zenobia asked, "Montezuma, or Polybius?"

"Montezuma." Donna replied, "I just can't stop seeing him. Every time I go to sleep since I got back here, I see him."

"But when you were with Polybius, you didn't?" Zenobia asked.

"Only after we got to know each other." Donna replied, "When we didn't know each other all that well, I had them constantly. And every time the Titans were forced to leave me alone to go out on missions, I'd always feel uneasy. Like I do now."

"Uneasy?" Zenobia questioned.

"I don't know how to explain it to you." Donna said, "It's just, even though I know he's not there, and that he's dead. I just can't shake the feeling that he is. That' 's plotting to do something horrible to me."

"Unless you're with Polybius?" Zenobia asked.

"Yeah." Donna answered.

Zenobia thought about this for a moment.

"I'm no expert on this kind of stuff, but what I think you may want to do is visit Polybius." Zenobia offered, "I know you want to!"

"I do." Donna admitted, "But how will seeing Polybius help me?"

"Well, seeing as how you feel safe around him, maybe if you see him again, it'll reassure your mind that while Montezuma may be apart of you, Polybius is as well. And that Polybius is far stronger than Montezuma."

Donna sort of got what she was saying, but that didn't help her.

"I mean, yeah, that sounds logical." Donna replied, "But I don't want to be this damsel in distress. I want to be the savior, not the saved. And if I go back to Polybius for that, then I feel like all I'm doing is just surrendering myself to that persona."

"Maybe." Zenobia replied, "But maybe not. Perhaps if you go and save Polybius, then you'll feel better about yourself. I mean, we're all damsels in distress at some point, the evil dragon at some, and the saviors at others. The point is, you can't fight fate. What happened to you will happen for a reason because it's been pre-decided by the Gods."

"I'm not so sure." Donna said, "I never quite hopped on the fate train. Otherwise, to me, it would seem that all of our choices aren't our own."

"But think about it!" Zenobia said, "If you hadn't been kidnapped by Montezuma, then you would have never met Polybius, gotten so close to Diana, experienced man's world, and we wouldn't be sitting here and having this conversation right now! And while what Montezuma did was horrible to you, maybe, in the long run, it'll be a good thing."

"How?" Donna asked.

"I don't know." Zenobia said, "Maybe you'll become the second envoy to man's world. Maybe you'll fall for Polybius. Maybe Polybius was just there to set you down another path. I mean, he has taught you a lot for being a mute. I mean, my gosh, you don't look at people like your mom does. She sees a man and assumes they're all alike. But from my understanding, from what Polybius taught you, is that you need to judge people based on their person and what they stand for. Maybe you were supposed to bring that way of thinking to this island to help open our minds and reconnect ourselves more thoroughly with the outside world."

Donna took in the information that Zenobia had just told her. Everything she had just said made sense. Maybe her purpose was not necessarily to return to man's world, but rather bring the thinking of one man to her island to open up the Amazon's minds. Maybe that was her purpose.

But then again, that wasn't what she, and her heart, wanted to do. She wanted to be like Polybius. She envied him, his open-mindedness. His forgiveness. His willingness to, as he had put it once, write a blank check to a person for anything and everything up to and including his own life. All because he didn't want what happened to him to happen to them.

She wished that she was more like him in every way of her life.

"But who knows." Zenobia said after a short pause, "Maybe I'm wrong. Only time will tell us what happens."

"Yeah…" Donna said as she thought harder about what her friend Zenobia had said.

Meanwhile, back in Jump City, someone else too was thinking hard about life. That person was Cyborg, who was sitting at the dining table by himself. He had his head hung low and hands together. There was no one else in the room at that time, but that didn't last long as Raven walked.

"Something troubling you?" Raven asked as she looked over at Cyborg.

"Hm?" Cyborg questioned, looking at her "Oh, it's just something Polybius texted to me."

"What is it?" Raven asked.

"This." Cyborg said, showing her the text, "I don't fully understand what he means by this."

Raven quickly read what Polybius had and thought about it. She took a seat across from the metal Titan and began to speak.

"He is right." Raven said.

"How?" Cyborg questioned, "When I was with the Titans East, they told me to stay with them, and y'all were telling me to come back. That seems like two opposite things to me."

"You're taking it to literal." Raven corrected, "I think what he was trying to mean is that in the end, what everybody says doesn't matter. While words can be written in stone, the endless march of time will erode them down and turn them into sand to be washed away by the tide of time and forgotten. But actions have a far longer-lasting impact on people than words do."

"And what does he mean by that last bit?" Cyborg asked, sort of picking up on what she was saying.

"Well, when you blow up the stone, the words they once held are gone forever. And since nobody is going to take the time to restore the stone, it will forever leave its mark. But the scar from the blast will always be there. For any passerby to see and remember." Raven explained.

"So what you're saying is that actions speak louder than words?" Cyborg asked.

"In short, yes." Raven said.

"Great." Cyborg said, "What a way to say that."

"Well, you gotta think about it from Polybius's perspective." Raven said, "We all know that at one point in his life, he had his voice. And that at one point in his life, he had been through something horrible. And as he would probably put it, those were really humbling experiences. We don't know all that much about him, really. In fact, I'd say out of everyone here, he is the one I, no, we, know the least about."

"And that's cause he can't talk?" Cyborg asked.

"Exactly." Raven said, "I mean, just imagine that happening to you. You just lose your voice one day and live in constant physical pain. He's not even able to call for help when he needs it. The only time I've ever seen him weak is because I just happened to run into him by chance."

"Oh?" Cyborg questioned, unaware of this.

"I won't go into detail about it because it's not relevant." Raven quickly said, "But what I will say is that Polybius can't just get up and go ask for help. He has to hope that the person he is trying to get the attention of will give him that attention he needs so he can hopefully get his message across. And even then, he doesn't always get that message across. So then he would be left on his own and in the dark all by himself."

"Woah." Cyborg said, now catching onto what Raven was saying.

"I mean, just think about how terrifying that can be." Raven said, "To think that he lives his life, relying on other people to give him their attention. And if they feel like being rude, then he gets screwed over."

"Yeah." Cyborg agreed.

"And we don't even know about the things he hides from us." Raven said, "We don't know what kind of baggage he carries. It's more than likely he carries scars from that. Who knows, maybe this whole time he has been seeing hallucinations, and we could never know."

It was ironic that Raven was saying that at that moment. As in the bathroom, Polybius was standing in front of the mirror, accompanied by Darkbius and Hostbius. He stood with no clothing on and was looking at his branded chest. It had four numbers on it. 1 4 5 and 3 in that order.

"1 4 5 3." Darkbius said out loud as he stood behind Polybius "That's all you are. Just a number."

"Too bad, you just can't put down the fight for one second of your life Polybius." Hostbius followed up, "You could be more than that. You could be me!"

"Or better yet, back where you belong." Darkbius followed up, "Face it, pretty boy, you just killed your friendship with Cyborg. He'll never forgive you for this!"

"No, sir!" Hostbius commented.

"Now face it, Polybius." Darkbius went on, "You are destroying all of your friendships one by one. Starting with Cyborg, to Robin, to Beast Boy, to Starfire, and to Raven. And even with Donna too. You failure."

The mute shook his head as he couldn't help but feel like the two were right.

"Now, get yourself washed, you disgusting monster." Darkbius said, backing off of him, "You smell like a rotting corpse."

Polybsiu then turned away from the mirror. He went over and began getting dressed when suddenly the door burst open.

"Ah!" Beast Boy shouted, quickly turning back, only catching a glimpse of the now shirtless Polybius "Sorry, I thought this was empty!"

**And there you have it! Chapter 26. Thank you for taking the time to read it and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	27. Chapter 27: A Monster

_Chapter 27_

_A Monster..._

A teen laid on the ground and grudgingly opened his eyes. Looking up at the sky, he saw the unfamiliar pink rule over it all. He then remembered what happened. Some freak of a screaming monster attacked a space station, the Titans were sent to figure it out, mission failed, and they crashed on a potentially hostile alien world.

The mute Titan remembered being angry at Robin for taking that mission off the Justice League's hands. Polybius expressed to him that it made the Titans look like their puppet and not an independent organization like both he and Robin wanted to come off as. Yet Robin was insistent on doing this favor for Batman for whatever reason.

Sitting up, the mute Titan saw that he was alone and in a forest. Trees with no leaves surrounded him. And only bits and pieces of both the ship and some of his tools insight.

However, one tool he did have was his flare gun. And while it had been weaponized by the mute Titan, it was still a flare gun. And there were a handful of regular flares sticking out of a bush nearby.

Pointing the gun upwards, Polybius shot off a normal flare into the sky, hoping one of the Titans would see it. From there, he began a search of the area to see if he could find his tools. It didn't take him long to locate his backpack, which, fortunately, had stayed in one piece during the whole ordeal and contained almost all of the tools he had brought. Unfortunately, his communicator was destroyed, and his phone had no signal, giving him no means to contact the other Titans.

Now fully armed with a set of tools, the mute Titan quickly got to work setting up a temporary base.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Nathan sat down in his bathroom, shirt off, and knife in his hand.

"You don't have power over me!" He shouted, clearly in agony.

Taking the knife, he quickly made an extended cut down his wrist.

"You can't control me!" He shouted again.

"Wanna bet?" The voice asked.

Suddenly two things happened. The first is the extended cut in Nathan's arm vanished, and second, the stainless steel knife turned into a balloon.

"Leave me alone!" Nathan begged.

"Fine." The voice said, "Say bye, bye to Mommy then!"

Suddenly, Nathan heard her mother scream in terror and pain. He got up and ran out of the bathroom just in time to see her get attacked by a creature that resembled Polybius.

Nathan watched, in horror, as the DJ monster, with a new speaker on its head, started to blast his mother's ears with a remix of the same O'riley remix he watched Polybius and Starfire get blasted with.

"Stop!" Nathan shouted as he tried to rush forward, only to not even get two steps before he fell as he felt his heart stop beating.

Laying on the ground, helpless watching, he watched as his mother's ears started to bleed, and her eyes roll into the back of her head. The creature blasted her for a solid ten seconds before stopping and vanishing. And with the creature's disappearance, so too did Nathan's heart began to beat again.

"Mom!" Nathan shouted as he rushed to her side.

He held his dead mother in his arms as he began to sob.

"You monster!" Nathan shouted as he stood up and punched the air in anger.

"I'm not." The voice replied, "Because I can do this!"

Suddenly, Nathan's mother's eyes just opened up, and she looked up at him.

"Nathan?" His mother asked him, acting and looking as if nothing had just happened.

"Mom?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

Suddenly, it seemed everything paused for Nathan as his mother then froze.

"Now you listen here." The voice commanded, "You really never had a choice. You were gonna work for me whether you like it or not. Your real mistake was attacking Polybius and wanting him dead."

Nathan stared at his mother in disbelief as the voice paused to let their words sink in.

"So here is the deal." The voice went on "You can still win your build-a-babe, keep your mother alive, and live easy. I'll give you anything and everything you want. The world will be yours! All you have to do is what I say."

"Are you Trigon?" The teen asked.

"No." The voice said, "I make him look like Jesus compared to me!"

Meanwhile, way out on Paradise Island, Donna sat in her room alone. She was bored out of her mind. She stared at her wall and counted all of the cracks in it for the umpteenth time. Unfortunately, with the signing of the treaty of Constantinople a few months ago, Diana lost her excuse to secretly train Donna. Now she was off somewhere in DC doing good there. Doing what Donna wanted to do.

Looking over at her closet, she couldn't help but walk over and look at her uniform, and right behind it was the jacket Polybius had gifted her.

Grabbing hold of the latter, Donna took it out and looked at it. She reminisced about her time with Polybius and how she missed him. Despite not even being able to speak, he was the most inspiring person she had ever met. She wanted to be more like him. She wanted to be as selfless, as forgiving, as caring as he was. He was her hero, not just in the sense that he rescued her, but also in the sense that he was her idol.

"How much longer?" Donna questioned as she held his jacket.

No longer! Donna couldn't wait any more to become the hero she wanted to be. To follow her role model and become Wonder Girl!

Deciding that in a few weeks, during a religious ceremony, she would pretend to not be feeling well and go to bed early. With the service at night, she would easily be able to sneak off the island and finally start doing good!

"Genius!" Donna muttered to herself as she put Polybius's jacket back in her closet.

Back on the faraway planet, Polybius took a look at his excellent work. He had just finished building himself a sizable home to conduct his base of operations from. As of right now, with his communicator and phone busted, he had no means to contact the other Titans. And no reason to assume that they were alive.

And while he would have been upset as a result of their deaths, he also had no reason to believe they were dead either. Therefore, the best course of action in his mind was to set up a short term base, hold out there until dawn the next day, and then begin searching for his friends.

Making a small fire outside his sizable shack, the mute Titan couldn't help but think about Raven at that moment and what had happened with her last week. Talking about the end of the world and all that.

Polybius didn't really believe in all of that nonsense. Quite frankly, the way he saw it, there was no way the Titans were going to let this happen. No one was going to. And Polybius would be more than willing to fight until the bitter end for her, but not die. He didn't want to die because if he did, then he could do nothing to help.

Thinking a bit further back to about two months ago when Cyborg defeated Brother Blood, the mute Titan couldn't help but wonder if Brother Blood had thought his plan all the way through. Did he sincerely believe that if the Titans failed to stop him, the Justice League would have just sit by and let him do his thing? Not to mention his new schoolhouse was sitting out in the open where anybody who wasn't blind could see it. It would really have been too easy to just hit the building with a missile or something, and with that cliff cover, Steel City would have been spared a lot of damage.

Regardless, the mute Titan went even further back in time to the little party the Titans had for him. Mostly to kiss his butt in his mind. While he did have a good time, and things did seem to get better for a while, they seemed to be heading back downhill again. Recently, Beast Boy had lashed out at him for walking out early on his movie.

It wasn't that Polybius wanted to make him mad by walking out, but it was one of Beast Boy's all-time favorite movies. A movie that Polybius wasn't really enjoying. He also knew that Beast Boy was having a bad day that day, too, so he agreed to sit down and watch it with him to make him feel better. However, he had made plans for another round of UNO, which had quickly become his favorite game, with Marc and Rayanus, who had become good friends with the mute.

This signaled to Polybius that things were slowly headed back the way they were before the prank that nearly killed him. Of course, ever since then, the Titans had been adamant about making sure his garden was alright and even pitched in to help him take care of it. And while that did mean something to him, it couldn't rectify the wrongs that had been done to him. Even if it did keep him alive.

Regardless, the mute still saw this part of his life as the best part of it thus far. And with that being said, that didn't mean everything had to be great. He didn't have to be living pain-free. It didn't have to be perfect. I just had to be better than it was before he joined the Titans. Which it most certainly was.

The mute was brought out of his thoughts when he heard something moving in the bushes. He quickly stood up and picked up his modern ax. He then squared up with whatever it was that was moving towards him.

It was a whole army of little white aliens in orange robes. They approached the mute Titan and his camp and stopped about three meters away from them. They all then looked up at him, and the two had a stare-off.

The mute Titan then looked around to see that these little aliens were the only creatures around and none others. After confirming that neither other animals were around nor any Titans, the mute smiled.

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna was gathered with several of her sisters in front of a well. Nobody was really sure what this well was for, but they all knew the queen had something important to say.

"After the attack on our home island, I spoke with the Gods about what had happened. They said they had no knowledge of this. However, to help better defend ourselves, they have bestowed upon us this." The queen said, pointing to the well.

The Amazons then looked into the well.

"And to prove this well can reveal to us the outside world, Donna, why don't we look at Polybius." The queen said as she stuck her hand in the water.

Swirling the water around, the blue soon gave way to a window, looking over the mute Titan.

"Is that not him?" Her mother asked.

"Yes." Donna replied, "What is he doing?"

The Amazons then watched as Polybius picked up one of the little white aliens. Their faces of confusion quickly turned to horror as they watched the mute bring up his stomach outside his body. The three-pronged organ with one talon then swiftly moved to the helplessly trapped alien in Polybius's grip.

Quickly clamping down on its small head, the talon was then quick to inject the small creature with the mixture of digestive enzymes and venom of Polybius. The mute Titan then sucked it dry rather quickly and dropped the dry, bloodless body, on the ground. The mutant Titan then moved on, picking up the next one and doing the same thing, each process taking less than five seconds per alien.

This went on for a solid ten minutes as Polybius massacred most of the white aliens, trying to flee for their lives. However, the mute's sheer size advantage over them, he was easily able to catch them. It also didn't help the aliens that Polybius was also using his tentacles to corral them into a close area where they couldn't escape.

Donna's jaw dropped as she watched Polybius continue to grab the white aliens, suck it dry in a matter of seconds, and move onto the next. She now understood why he never ate with anybody.

"You see, my child." Her mother started, "Isn't it as I have always said, men are monsters. No matter how nice they may seem, they want nothing more than to eat you up."

"No." Donna replied as Polybius finished up the last alien.

"No?" Her mother questioned, "How can you deny this evidence right in front of you!?"

"Because he's not a monster!" Donna defended.

"Then what kind of person would do that?" Her mother asked.

"I don't know!" Donna replied, "And while I can believe that is Polybius, I refuse to believe he is a monster! We don't know what kind of situation he's in! Or even if this is real! Why I bet, you made this and set this whole thing up to get me to hate him! Why!? Why do you want me to hate him!? Just because he looks like Montezuma!"

"I am trying to protect you!" Her mother countered.

"From what!?" Donna demanded.

"From the evil's of man's world!" Her mother replied, "After everything, Montezuma did to you, why do you want to go back!? What is it about him that makes him so much better than everything I have ever taught you?"

"Because he taught me more truth in the span of a week than you ever have!" Donna replied.

"How so?" Her mother demanded.

"Because you just put all men into one big group! Claiming they're all evil." Donna countered, "But Polybius said that it's not right to stereotype people! Why hate someone because of the way they were born? They can't control that! Instead, we should hate and love people based on the person they are!"

"As noble as that may sound, he is only trying to get you to let your guard down!" The queen said, "And when you do, he'll strike."

"Ugh!" Donna shouted, "This is so pointless! All because one man did one bad thing to you, you decide that everyone is bad! Because that makes sense!"

Donna then stormed off in anger as she left everyone in the dust to think about what she had just said.

"She does have a good point." One of the Amazons pointed out.

"No." The queen replied, "Everytime we have let our guard down, men have exploited us. I cannot and will not allow that to ever happen again. Not after what Montezuma did to our people."

Meanwhile, back on Polybius's end, the mute Titan sat down by his fire and relaxed. That wasn't the best meal he had had, but certainly, a better one than he had had in a long while. He was just glad nobody was around to see that as he really did look like a monster.

Then again, he was one. Polybius had long accepted this truth and lived with it. He no longer struggled with being shunned by the world for these mutations, but rather, only struggled with moving forward.

His mind began to wander back to the Titans as he began to think about his current standing and feelings about each one.

Starting with Robin, in the mute's mind, he felt rather neutral towards the leader. While Polybius was still upset about the rather light punishment for his near-death experience, he had moved past that. As of that moment in time, he now felt like Robin was just sort of there.

Moving on to Cyborg, Polybius considered his relationship with the big Titan strained. While Cyborg apologized for lashing out at him every time he did, Polybius lacked any belief in that. No matter how genuine it seemed, after this cycle of abuse, apology, makeup, worse abuse, Polybius couldn't fully believe him.

As for Starfire, Polybius had warmed up the alien girl. Possibly stemming from all the time he spent with Starfire when Donna was around, Polybius did feel close to the alien princess. He did see her in a more positive light compared to the boys.

Speaking of the boys, as for the green Titan, Polybius was still highly resentful of him. While Beast Boy had apologized numerous times, and Polybius kept lying to his face, telling him it was alright, it wasn't. And both of them knew it. Yet, due to Polybius's general untrusting nature, he was having a hard time bringing Beast Boy back into his life. At least in the way it had existed before the deadly prank.

As for Raven, Polybius felt a sense of duty towards her. Out of the other five, he felt closest to her. The reason being is she not only took up his case but was also there for him. From the forest to the medical bay, she was there. And Polybius was extremely grateful for that.

And now, with the end of the world on the horizon, Polybius felt that he needed to help her. Like he owed her for all of the times she had been there to help him. And that no matter what happened, he would fight for her.

The mute silently chuckled as he found it amusing that he felt closer to the females of his team rather than the males.

And lastly, Polybius's mind wandered over to Donna. Polybius was fully aware of what was going on with her thanks to Wonder Woman, who had been keeping in touch with him. How Donna aspired to be like him. How she wanted to fight for the same reasons as he did. How overall, she generally wanted to be more like him.

And while Polybius did think this was nice, he strongly wished she would reconsider.

Polybius wasn't sure what Donna saw in him. When Polybius looked at himself, he only saw weakness and disappointment. He didn't see anything good in himself. Just the stupid, scary, monster he was.

Despite this, Polybius knew Donna was doing far better than he ever had. His extensive efforts to make sure that she didn't feel alone after what Montezuma did to her clearly paid off. Donna said that her uneasy feelings were not as common as they were when she was with him. She stopped having random flashbacks a while ago. And overall, she seemed to be quite happy from his perspective.

Well, except for her mother, of course. The mute Titan had a hard time understanding what her mother's problem was. Yes, Montezuma did horrible things to their people, but Montezuma was dead. And it was clear to Polybius that Donna, who was now almost eighteen like he was soon to be, wanted nothing more than to go out and do good. Both like him and her older sister.

That being said, when Polybius started out being a hero, he remembered he had a lot going against him at the start. A lot of things that tried to hold him back. To keep him down. However, overcoming these challenges made him a better hero and person today than he would be if he hadn't had to overcome those challenges.

Therefore, Polybius saw this as a challenge to Donna's resolve. To see just how badly she wanted to go out of her way to help people for the same reason he did. So that what happened to her wouldn't happen to other people.

A new rustle in the bushes brought Polybius out of his thoughts yet again. Looking away from his fire, he saw Raven come floating out of the woods.

"Polybius!" Raven shouted upon seeing her friend.

The mute Titan smiled and waved.

"Are you the monsters the Shallas have been telling me about?" Raven asked.

The mute Titan silently chuckled and nodded. He knew that he was the scariest thing on the planet, and was proud of it too!

Later that day, while the Titans were on their return trip to Earth, Donna had finally had enough waiting. She was going to start being a hero today.

She was, in part, doing this in spite of her mother. She was so sick and tired of hearing the same lies over and over. Donna had also decided that the ceremony was too far away to wait, and she was done with waiting.

For the second time in her life, Donna stepped foot into man's world. The young Amazonian girl looked around at the city called Athens in her new uniform. She was finally doing it! She was finally putting herself to the test as a hero!

Donna could hardly contain her excitement. She was eager to put his skills and abilities to the test. All of her training with Diana was about to pay off, and she could finally start heading in the direction she wanted to go. At least in terms of becoming more like Polybius.

Looking around, Athens certainly wasn't as impressive as Jump City. At least in her mind. While far more abundant in history and importance, the city looked rather underwhelming compared to Jump City. She didn't see nearly as many tall towering buildings that touched the sky. There weren't as many people going around their day to day business. Everything about Athens seemed different than Jump City.

Donna then remembered that Polybius was on the other side of the world. If she remembered correctly in man's world, they had what were called 'time zones.' And apparently, they shifted up or down by an hour depending on if you went east or west. And Polybius was eight hours behind her if she remembered correctly.

In other words, as Cyborg had put it when their workday was staring, hers would be ending.

Pushing the time zones aside, Donna then remembered a long discussion about different cultures. While all of man's world had been summed up as the same according to her mother, the reality was, it was different.

Donna then recalled Robin talking about how different the culture was on the eastern coast of the United States versus the western coast of the same country. Donna then thought it was safe to assume that if culture was different on one coast of a country versus the other, then being in a different country had to have a radically different culture.

Pushing that aside, Donna was quick to enter the city and begin looking for criminals. She generally stayed out of sight of the general public as she didn't want to attract attention to herself. She was a little concerned about how her older sister might take it if she saw a video of Donna off the island.

However, much to the new heroine's disappointment, despite hours of thoroughly combing the city, she found nothing. Everything was quiet and calm.

Taking a seat on a park bench, Donna felt defeated. She was so eager and pumped to go out and test herself. She had been under the impression that there was trouble daily, and that a response was always needed. That there was always trouble.

At least it had seemed that way when she was with the Titans. Almost every day she was with them, they had at least one mission, if not two. She could only remember only one day that they didn't have one, and Starfire had expressed that those days were rare.

So Donna couldn't understand why she wasn't finding any crime.

Leaning back on the bench, Donna looked up at the sky and began to think about her options going forward. She couldn't stay out forever, but she did still have a large window of time. At least more than enough to sit and wait.

The sound of a massive blast and subsequent blast wave caught Donna entirely off guard. Donna found herself getting knocked off the bench as the sound of shattering glass filled her ears.

Quickly recovering, Donna stood up and saw a massive plume of smoke rising from the ground on the other side of the park.

"Finally!" Donna said with a smile on her face.

Wasting no time, Donna quickly sprung into action. Within a matter of seconds, she was on the other side of the park and took a look at the situation.

Donna saw three heavily armed and armored masked men standing with big guns. They were indiscriminately firing rounds every which way, not really aiming at anyone per se, but still causing mass panic and terror.

Seizing the opportunity, Donna quickly stepped in and flew right at one of the attackers. She punched him right across the face. This sent the man flying into one of his comrades and dropping a piece of paper.

The three men began speaking in a language Donna had never heard of. The one that was still standing quickly started firing rounds at Donna. However, they were all easily deflected by Donna utilizing her bracelets.

The two on the ground quickly got up. The one Donna assumed was their leader quickly ordered them to flee. However, before doing so, one of them tossed a small, skinny cylinder at her.

Donna didn't even have time to react as she was suddenly blasted with a bright white light that blinded her, and loud, deafening noise also filled her ears.

The suddenness of this took Donna off guard, and she stumbled backwards. She was utterly incompacticated for a few minutes before her senses returned to her, and she came back to the world.

"What was that?" Donna asked as the ringing in her ears finally stopped.

Looking around, the three attackers were long gone, and all that was left was a small piece of paper on the ground. She walked over and picked it up.

Taking a look at it, Donna's jaw dropped as she examined the paper.

It was a hit list with many names on it. While the new heroine had no idea who most of these people were, the one that jumped out at her was Polybius Prussia.

Knowing she had to warn her friend, Donna didn't even hesitate to begin to make the long trip to Jump City. She had to get to Polybius and warn him before they did.

**And there you have it! Thank you for taking the time to read Chapter 27 and I hope you have a good rest of your day!**


	28. Chapter 28: Attack on Polybius

_Chapter 28_

_Attack on Polybius..._

The mute Titan quickly rushed down to the garage. He quickly spun around the corner and laid eyes on by far the most hilarious sight he had seen in a long while.

There was Cyborg in a rain suit, Starfire in an ugly Christmas sweater, Robin with his hair done nicely, Beast Boy in a pink bunny suit, and Raven in one of the most hideous dresses he had ever seen.

There was a long moment of silence and registering as Polybius studied what was in front of him.

"Now, now, children." The voice of an elderly woman spoke up, "Are we now all ready to go?"

Polybius looked over and saw the ugliest witch he had ever seen. She had green skin, along with purple and black clothing.

"Now, who is this!?" The witch asked as she looked over at Polybius.

"That's our friend Polybius!" Raven answered, "He's mute, so he can't talk."

"Is he!?" The witch said, surprised, "Well, maybe he would like some pie!"

Suddenly a pie appeared in front of the mute, and he lost it.

Polybius began to have a silent laughing fit at what he was seeing. This was too funny for him, regardless of how much danger he was in.

"Mother?" Beast Boy asked, "Why is he laughing at us?"

Just then, Polybius's communicator went off. A second crime was happening elsewhere on the outskirts of the city.

"A second crime!" Robin said, "We have to get going!"

Polybius held up one finger before he pulled out his phone and texted Robin.

'I'll deal with the second one. Y'all have fun with this old hag.' Polybius texted before running out.

Quickly making his way towards the outskirts of the City where the second alert went off, Polybius slowed down. His communicator was pointing him in the direction deep in the forest. A place Polybius knew all too well.

About three hundred meters out from where his communicator was pointing him towards, he suddenly heard what sounded like M2 Browning 50 cal machine fire. This was almost immediately followed by a massive kick up of dirt, sticks, leaves, and wood chips as one bullet hit Polybius in the head.

Knocking his hat off his head and skidding right over the top of it, the force of the armor-piercing round was enough to knock Polybius off his feet. He hit the ground hard, and the round split the top of his head open in a deep cut.

Blood quickly began to pool out of his head as Polybius laid on the ground in shock. He touched the top of his head and examined his hand. It was dripping blood red.

The armor-piercing round didn't hit Polybius in the head. Instead, it just skid across the top of his head. And while Polybius would definitely survive this injury with no permanent damage, the immediate aftermath of the attack was going to keep him down.

As his sense came back to him, Polybius realized that he was still wide open and, without even thinking, quickly crawled into a nearby ditch. As he did this, another barrage of 50 cal rounds opened up on him, but missed the mute Titan.

Pulling out his phone, he quickly and desperately texted Robin in a plea for help. He blew up Robin's phone by repeatedly texting 'Help' over and over, but no answer ever came.

As he was looking around in his contacts, Polybius was then sent flying into the air and phone out of his hands by a massive explosion. Polybius flew up more than forty meters into the air and came crashing down through the trees.

Hitting the ground, Polybius rolled down a hill and into a creek at the bottom.

The mute Titan was breathing heavily, but this time not in shock. He felt hurt, but not downed. However, as he tried to pick himself up, the true extent of the damage showed itself as Polybius fell over with a sharp pain in his leg.

Looking at it, Polybius saw a piece of metal sticking out of it and a lot of blood pouring out of the wound.

"He's over here!" Polybius heard a man shout.

Looking up, Polybius saw what looked like special forces guys wearing full suits of armor quickly rushing down the hill towards him, guns leveled at him.

"Capture him." The leader ordered, "The Administrator wants him alive if possible."

Walking down the hill towards him, Polybius quickly grew desperate and looked around for a solution. However, he wouldn't need one as one came to him.

Landing between himself and the special forces guys stood a person Polybius hadn't seen in a long time.

Donna!

"Get out of the way, missy." The leader of the team ordered, "You do not want to mess with us."

"Try me." Donna replied with a smile on her face.

The team then opened fire upon the girl. However, using her bracelets, Donna blocked all of the bullets.

"This is 4 Tailed Hawk, requesting backup!" The leader called over his com as the team began to pull back.

"Not so fast!" Donna said.

Launching herself off the ground, she flew towards the group and hit the leader with a hard punch. This sent him flying a good fifty meters away as the rest of the team began to panic.

"Kill that bitch!" One of them shouted.

Polybius got angry when he called her that and took that anger out on him.

Using his back tentacles, Polybius quickly grabbed two of the special forces guys by their necks and threw them off towards their leader.

"Fuck me." The last man standing said.

Donna was then quick to use her lasso and capture the final man. Polybius meanwhile, got the metal out of his leg and stumbled over to Donna.

"Who are you!?" Donna demanded.

The man let out grunts of resistance before hitting a button on his arm and said, "Not today."

The next thing that happened shocked both Polybius and Donna as the man's head, as well as his three comrade's heads, exploded.

After whipping the blood off his face, Polybius then turned to Donna with a confused look on his face.

"Hi!" Donna happily greeted the mute "Okay, so you're probably wondering what I'm doing here, so let me explain, but first!"

Donna then gave the mute a massive hug with a huge smile on her face. Polybius was more than happy to return the gesture with a smile of his own. This hug lasted for a long minute before the two broke off.

"I've missed you so much!" Donna said as she broke off.

The mute Titan couldn't help but nod the same. However, he still wanted to know why she was here.

"Okay." Donna started, "So earlier today, I snuck out of the house and off the island. After all of the training Diana has done for me, I felt ready to test my luck against some baddies. So I headed out towards Athens, and there I ran into this militant group. I engaged them, but I was easily able to drive them off. However, one of them dropped this paper with a long list of names on it. And one of them was you! And since I had no way to get in touch with you, I decided that I had to come to warn you myself, so I flew all the way over here as fast as I could to warn you that this group."

Polybius then pointed to the body of the soldier.

"Yes, he is part of the same group I fought in Athens. I can tell by that patch on his right shoulder." Donna said, looking over at the headless man.

Polybius then walked over to the body and ripped the velcro patch off his arm. The patch was a shield with a white outline, two black strips at the top and bottom, and a white middle. In this white middle was a cage with two hands on the bars. Standing to the left and right of the cage were two guys with guns looking at the cage.

"Do you have any idea what it means?" Donna asked.

Polybius shook his head. He had never seen the symbol before.

"Well, shoot." Donna said, "I was hoping you knew something about this."

This raised a lot of questions for Polybius. Why were these people attacking him and targeting him? Who else was on that list? What was going to come next?

"They also seemed to have some heavy weapons." Donna added as Polybius turned back to face her "Just over that hill, I saw what I think is a 50 cal machine gun. And then a grenade launcher to I think."

Polybius now knew that this group had to be at least somewhat well funded. Or really good robbers to steal this from a military post. Either way that didn't answer any of his questions. And searching the bodies didn't give him any answers either.

"Well, this sucks." Donna said, "Athena, give us wisdom."

"Only if you can beat me!" A familiar voice suddenly came out of nowhere.

Polybius turned back in time only to see Red X launching himself through the air at him. He used the suit's powers to create razor-sharp Xs on his hands and attacked Polybius. The mute Titan was quick to block this with his modern ax. Polybius was then quick to put a boot in his stomach and sent him back a couple steps.

"Who are you!" Donna demanded.

"You don't know already, honey?" Red X asked, "You mean, this monster hasn't told you."

"Don't call him that!" Donna spat back.

"That's what he is!" Red X said, "He and I both know it."

The mute Titan knew Red X was right in that he was indeed a monster. Raven had made that very clear when she found out he had been eating the little aliens.

"So what?" Donna then asked, "That doesn't define who he is as a person."

"Then why don't we put that to the test!" Red X shouted.

Red X then used the suit's power to shoot a sticky X at Polybius. The Titan then proceeded to swing his ax at the oncoming attack and split the x in half. This was immediately followed up by Polybius shooting his flare gun with a stick fire flare at Red X. The attack caught Red X off guard, and he barely dogged it.

"Looks like you're good." Red X said, "But let's see how she does."

Turning on Donna, Red X was quick to launch himself at her. He attacked her with a series of punches, which Donna was easily able to block and dodge. She did try and counter, however, Red X anticipated this and did a flip over her.

Trying to move in for an easy attack, Red X held up a razor-sharp X in his hand and got ready to strike before Donna could respond. However, Polybius intervened, and body-slammed Red X with all three hundred plus pounds of his body.

Red X was sent flying back into a tree and hit it hard. Polybius meanwhile, stayed on top of him and attempted to smash Red X's face with the blunt side of the ax. Red X slid down the tree and dogged this, only to get caught up in Donna's lasso and slammed into another tree and then the ground.

Rolling for another seven feet, Red X, with his free left hand, was able to throw an X at Donna, causing her to drop the lasso, freeing him as she barely dodged the attack.

Polybius quickly responded to this by throwing his modern ax at him. Red X barely managed to get away, but his cape got caught up in the ax, pinning him to a stump.

"Not bad." Red X commented as Polybius drew his flare gun, "But not good!"

Shooting another X at Polybius, like Robin had over a year ago, the X wrapped itself around the barrel of the flare gun, rendering it useless.

Donna was quick to pick up for Polybius as she flew at Red X and batted his hand aside when he tried to adjust his aim. She then took him by his collar, tearing his cape.

"Who are you!" Donna demanded.

"That's for a few of us to know, and you're not one of them!" Red X said.

Red X then quickly piped up and kicked Donna in her shin, causing her to lose grip on her. As she stumbled from the attack, Red X used the opportunity to make himself disappear. After taking a moment to register what had happened, Polybius turned his attention to Donna.

"Ow." Donna said, rubbing her shin as Polybius came to her side.

Polybius looked and saw that she had a nasty bruise forming on her shin. Polybius was quick to try and treat the wound as best he could, but Donna stopped him.

"Don't worry about me, Polybius." She insisted, "You're in worse shape than I am."

Polybius had totally forgotten that he was bleeding, had a reverse mohawk on his head from the bullet of the 50 cal, and metal shrapnel from the grenade.

The mute Titan just waved it off as Donna looked at the top of his head.

"You're lucky." Donna said, "The bullet just grazed your head. It barely hit you."

The mute Titan smiled as he stood up.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan nodded. He knew he was just going to shrug this off easily. He had been hit with far worse before.

"Well then, I guess I can tell you the other thing I wanted to tell you." Donna said.

The mute Titan looked at her with an expecting look.

"I have heard that Robin wants to go global with the Titans. And now I am here to join your ranks and fight by all of your sides!" Donna declared, "As Wonder Girl!"

Polybius smiled happily. He then pulled out his communicator only to remember what kind of trouble the Titans were in. He then slowly put it away.

"Something wrong?" Donna asked.

Polybius shook his head. The Titans were capable enough without him, and he had a lot more on his plate to worry about right now. He then looked over at where his hat was a couple dozen meters away. Macuraciously, it didn't get destroyed by the 50 cal. Instead, it looked as if it hadn't even been touched and had just fallen off his head.

Picking it up, Polybius put it on his head to cover his wound and looked back at Donna. He then extended a hand towards the girl. Donna didn't even hesitate to take it as the two took off.

Polybius took them to the library, ironically the same one Raven had taken them to not long ago.

"The library?" Donna asked "I don't think we're gonna find any answers here."

The mute Titan shook his head as the two entered the building. Quickly making their way over to a computer, Polybius began looking for the symbol on Google. However, after a long and lengthy search, nothing came up.

"I don't think we're gonna get anywhere with this." Donna commented after looking through endless results for an hour, "Maybe we could find something elsewhere?"

The mute Titan nodded. Taking out his phone, he snapped a picture of the patch and posted it online, asking the people of Reddit if anybody knew anything about this. While he knew he was going to get a lot of dead ends, there was always the chance of truth hidden in there. He would just have to shift through the results later.

With that, Polybius dropped the search and leaned back in his chair. Red X accompanied by an armed escort. That couldn't have been a stroke of mere luck. Red X had to have known something about them beforehand. Either that, or it was the other way around, and the team used Red X to lure Polybius out.

Either way, somebody clearly wanted Polybius dead.

"So now that that's all taken care of…" Donna started nervously, "Maybe you want to hang out a little bit before I have to go and in process with the Titans?"

Polybius smiled. He eagerly nodded, both of them fully knowing the risk they were about to take. If Donna's mother found out she was going to be in for a lot of trouble. And by extension, Polybius would assume he would have a bounty on his head from the queen of the Amazons for 'corrupting Donna.'

Polybius didn't care. He knew that if all of the Amazons were women scored, and he walked into a forest, he was by far the scariest thing in there. Hell may hath no fury like them, but it wouldn't dare even show itself to him. It would run and hide from him. Making him the scariest thing in the forest.

"Well, come on then!" Donna said, taking his hand, "We don't have much time, and I don't want to waste a second of it!"

Running out of the library, the two-headed out to the park. There, the two began walking the trail, and Donna started talking.

"Gosh, how I've missed this place, this world, so much." Donna started as the two set forth on their trail "I know that there is a lot of bad in it, but it's people like us who make it better."

The mute Titan smiled as he knew she was right. If it weren't for them, the world would be a horrible place.

Donna continued to talk to him about her time away from him and man's world. She went on about everything she missed, talking extensively about how she missed him.

"And I hate how I just can't pull out a cell phone and text you whenever I want." Donna commented, "Always having to go through Diana is really annoying. Or better yet, when my mother uses the new 'Well of Athena' as she calls it to show us what's going on in the outside world. All she ever uses it for is to paint you like a monster."

The mute Titan raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, she showed me things that I could believe you doing." Donna said, "Like the thing that comes out of your mouth."

Polybius then went wide-eyed and quickly put a hand over her mouth. Her muffled speech promptly stopped as he looked around. Seeing nobody anywhere near them with a camera phone, Polybius decided to see where she went with this.

"What was that for?" Donna asked.

Making double sure nobody was around them, Polybius then let out a silent sigh of relief. However, Donna then connected the dots.

"Is that true?" Donna asked.

The mute Titan knew he couldn't hide it from her. He then pulled out his cell phone and used his notepad app to text a message and show it to her.

'Promise not to tell anybody?' Polybius entered.

"Of course!" Donna said, "I see the Titans as more of a family, so you can count on me like a sister!"

The mute let a small smile slip as he put his phone away. He then proceeded to show her his stomach rising up and out of his body. The long stomach talon flying freely.

"Woah." Donna said, looking at his stomach.

Polybius let it out for only ten seconds before quickly putting it back inside his body. He then looked down at the ground a little ashamed, but mostly embarrassed by doing that, and Donna could tell.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Polybius!" Donna assured him, "It's not like you can control that."

That didn't help the mute Titan. He wasn't proud of it, but if Donna had found out about it, then trying to deny it was only going to make things worse for him. And he didn't want to hurt his relationship with Donna.

Pulling out his phone, Polybius then explained how he digested food externally. How he was raising his stomach out of his body and ejecting digestive enzymes to turn the food into essentially a slushy. He would eject these enzymes from the talon on the end of his stomach and then use it as a straw to suck in the food. He also glossed over the pain it caused him as when he had to do this, he couldn't breathe but could hold his breath for an extended period of time.

"Interesting." Donna commented as she finished reading Polybius's explanation.

The mute Titan shrugged his shoulders after he got his phone back from her. He couldn't help but still feel embarrassed by it.

"Don't be ashamed of it, Polybius!" Donna asserted, "Just like I said earlier, you can't control that! And people who don't like you for that are morons! Just as you taught me, physical appearance doesn't define people. It's who they are as a person who defines them. And that should be the only reason why we hate people!"

Polybius looked at Donna. He couldn't remember when he ever said anything like that, but that was his line of thinking. However, for him, it applied to how he saw people, not how they saw him as he knew they didn't think the same way as him. Therefore, he knew he had to maintain an excellent physical appearance for people to like him.

But if Donna had picked up his line of thinking, then he was grateful for that. At least he knew one person would never judge him for the way he looks.

"Come on!" Donna said, "We've still got a few hours before the I have to go and in process with the Titans. Let's go and have some fun!"

The Amazon then extended a hand to the mute. He looked at it and eagerly took it as the two continued their walk.

**And there you have it folks! Chapter 28. I hope you enjoyed this and have a good rest of your day!**


	29. Chapter 29: Welcome Aboard

_Chapter 29_

_Welcome Aboard..._

Polybius and Donna chilled on the beach, looking at Titans tower. To Polybius, it appeared that the Titans had driven off that witch, and his assistance wasn't needed. This gave Polybius more leniency as to when he could bring Donna in. As much as he didn't want her to get in trouble, he wanted more to spend as much time as he could with her as possible.

Looking out at the water, the two soaked it all in. The sun was setting so they had a beautiful sunset and relatively few people around.

"Isn't it beautiful." Donna said, "The end of a day and the promise of night fills me with joy."

Polybius looked over at her with some confusion.

"Back when Montezuma had me, prisoner, I knew bad things were going to happen when the light came on. That was my warning, and when the light went off, I knew I was safe." Donna explained, "And while in complete and total darkness, I did manage to find some comfort in it, knowing that most likely, nothing bad was gonna happen to me."

Polybius listened to her words intently as she took a pause. She looked down at the ground and began to tremble.

"I still have nightmares of those times." Donna admitted, "All of the pain, suffering, torment, and humiliation I went through because of him!"

Polybius moved his hand towards her in an attempt to comfort her as he saw her being to break down.

"I hate what he did to me." Donna said, "And then my mother degrades and hates on you all because you happen to look like him. The person who saved me from certain death! Yet no, all because you're a man, that's all she seems to care about. Like you are setting me up to get hurt or something!"

As anger rose in Donna's voice, Polybius decided to squeeze her hand and try and bring her out of it, but to no avail.

"Never mind how I feel!" Donna said, tears now in her eyes and starting to roll down her face "Nevermind that I still see Montezuma standing in the corner of my room in the middle of the night! Nevermind that I always have an uneasy feeling! And never mind that I never feel safe!"

Donna then broke down and began crying. Polybius did his best to comfort her as she let it all out. He could tell that she had years of built-up frustration was coming out of her at that moment.

"I hate it!" Donna declared as tears rolled down her face, "I just want to be free! I don't want to see or hear Montezuma anymore! I don't want to always feel uneasy! I don't want any of this! How can anybody live like this!?"

Polybius wished he had his voice at that moment. So he could better comfort her than what he could. That he knew exactly what she was going through at that moment.

However, seeing no other option, Polybius decided to do the only thing he could really think of and go entirely against his nature.

Wrapping his arms around Donna, he pulled her in for a tight hug and embrace. She was quick to return his gesture and hugged him back.

"I wish I could stay with you." Donna added, "When I'm with you, I feel safe."

Polybius didn't quite understand that part. He never felt safe, but if he was her safety, then he would fully embrace that role.

Donna then calmed down and pulled away from him and wiped her face. She smiled and let out a small chuckle as she looked him in the eyes.

"Thanks." Donna said, "I know if any of my sisters saw me do that, they would kill me."

The mute then gave her a characteristically, warm smile.

"Why am I like this?" Donna asked him, "I'm supposed to be an Amazon. A strong independent woman. One who doesn't need men in her life. But why is it when I'm with you that I feel so different?"

Polybius couldn't answer that question for her. All he could do was standby and watch as she gathered herself. Once she recovered, she looked over at the tower.

"I suppose we should head back and get me in processed before I have to go." Donna said, a bit gloomy.

The mute looked at his phone and saw the time. They didn't have a lot of time left, and getting Donna in processed was an important step.

"Well, look at you!" The two suddenly heard a male voice shout.

Looking back, they saw some big fat, ugly looking guy approaching them. The stench that came off of him could be smelled a mile away. The overall physical appearance of the man reminded Polybius of a rotting bison.

Walking up to the two of them, the man looked at Donna with a hungry look in his eyes. A lustful look.

"Damn, girl, you're thicker than a bowl of oatmeal." The man said, causing anger to spark in both Polybius and Donna.

"Excuse me!?" Donna demanded.

"You heard me sexy." The man said, "Come on over here, and I'll show you what a good time is."

Polybius stepped up and approached the man with anger in his eyes.

"Oh, what are you gonna do, pretty boy?" The man asked before turning back to Donna, "Look, honey, this guy may be sexy, but you gotta give fat guys a chance. The reason being is the worst thing we'll do to you is eat dinner without you. Meanwhile, this guy over here is gonna lie to you, cheat on you, and break your heart."

"You're sick!" Donna spat back, "Go away!"

"Only if you come with me back to my place." The man said, "I let you ride this massive dick all night long!"

Polybius had enough. Grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt, Polybius then punched the man hard across the face. This hit was so hard that the man's shirt tore off, and he stumbled over unconscious and fell on his back.

"Why is it every time we hang out that we run into men like this?" Donna asked, "Don't tell me that you are the expectation, and most men are like him."

Polybius pulled out his phone and texted her a response.

'Technically, I'm not a man, I am really genderless, a hermaphrodite. And I just choose to go by male terms based on my physical appearance. However, I cannot speak for all men, but this is certainly not how most of them act. I think you just have bad luck and run into these losers.' Polybius explained over text.

"I see." Donna replied after reading it, "That does explain a lot."

Polybius then put his phone away and looked back at the man. He was breathing, but Polybius had neither the time nor patience for him. Polybius was going to just leave him on the ground and walk away.

"Come on." Donna said, offering a hand to him, "Let's go get me in processed."

Polybius took it, and the two flew over to Titan Island. Once they touched ground there, they headed inside the tower, and Polybius tried to get ahold of Robin, but to no avail.

He was, however, able to get ahold of Starfire, who was very happy and eager to see Donna again after all these years.

"Friend Donna!" Starfire shouted as she quickly took Donna in one of her death hugs.

"Hey, Starfire!" Donna greeted happily as she returned the hug.

"What are you doing here!?" Starfire quickly asked as she broke off her hug.

"Well, after seeing everything you and Polybius do, I decided that I wanted to be a hero too!" Donna explained.

"That's wonderful news!" Starfire declared.

"Yeah, well, Polybius has been keeping my sister, Diana in the loop, and she kept me in the loop as to what has been going on here, and since you guys are going global, I figured this was the best time for me to join!" Donna explained.

"That is correct!" Starfire said, "Come, let us give you what you need so you can go and do great things!"

Taking her upstairs to where the other four were, Starfire burst through the door with Polybius and Donna not far behind.

"Friends!" Starfire shouted "I have some wonderful news! Donna has returned, and she wishes to become a Titan!"

"Well, alright!" Cyborg shouted.

After quickly getting Donna in processed as an honorary Titan, Polybius was more than happy to hand off a T communicator to her.

"Welcome to the club." Beast Boy as Polybius handed it off.

"Thanks." Donna said, holding the communicator in her hand.

"You want a phone as well?" Cyborg offered, "We've got extras on our own 5G network, and we can contact each other anywhere on the entire globe."

"Even on Paradise Island?" Donna asked.

"I think so." Cyborg said, "And if not, the T communicator certainly can, so if you don't get any signal, just let me know, and I'll get you some."

"Thanks." Donna said, "But what is the point of having both a phone and communicator?"

"The communicator is used for official, mission-related business. Hence why it is only able to make calls on it." Robin explained, "The phone is for personal use. For things like group chat and stuff."

"Group chat?" Donna asked.

"Yesh, the Titans have one large group chat that we all talk in, as well as things like Google, games, or whatever else you want to put on your phone. It's yours." Robin said, "The only person who is the exception to the non-official-business rule is Polybius, and that's for obvious reasons."

"Sweet!" Donna said.

Cyborg quickly got Donna a phone, and she looked at it. Once they got it all set up, the first person she went to was Polybius to get his number.

"You're number is in here, right?" Donna asked, looking at both his and her phone.

Starfire couldn't help but giggle as she watched the two work. She wasn't alone as Robin, smiled as well.

"What are you guys smiling and giggling about?" Donna asked.

"Nothing." Starfire replied for the team.

"Sure…" Donna said, not believing them as Polybius finished exchanging their numbers.

What neither of them knew is that Beast Boy had out his phone and took a picture of them. He then proceeded to post it on every social media website he was on. However, as he came on Reddit, the last one, he noticed Polybius had posted something that had been taken down immediately.

"Say, uh Polybius." Beast Boy said, looking at his phone, "Did you post something on our Reddit page?"

Polybius quickly headed over to Beast Boy to see that his post about the patch was gone.

"That's odd." Donna commented.

"What's odd?" Robin asked.

Donna then explained what had happened. From what she found in Athens, to the attack on Polybius, to their research.

"And you guys came up with nothing?" Robin asked.

They both shook their heads.

"Well, I guess that does makeup for you bailing on us with Mother Mae Eye." Cyborg commented.

"We've got bigger problems than that." Raven countered, "If Polybius is on a hit list, then we need to figure out who they are and why."

Polybius then reached into his pocket and pulled out the patch. He held it up for everybody to see.

"I've never seen anything like that." Robin commented, "But I'm sure Cyborg can find some match, right?"

"I'll try." Cyborg said, "But since Polybius's post was taken down off of Reddit almost immediately, I'm not sure how far I'll get."

Cyborg then took the patch from Polybius and set to work. Meanwhile, Donna looked out the window and then down at her phone.

"I should really get going." Donna said, "If I stay here much longer, my Mom will find out I snuck out again."

"Are you certain, friend?" Starfire asked, "We haven't even had the chance to do the hanging out!"

"Maybe next time." Donna said, "I'll be over again, don't worry about that. Just with how my Mom hates Polybius, I don't want to incur that wrath from her. Because if she figures out, I snuck out, she'll assume I went to Polybius, and she'll unleash Tartarus on me."

"Alright, then." Starfire said, "But you had better text us when you get back, so we know you returned safely!"

"I will." Donna said, "I will see you all later!"

After exchanging goodbyes, Polybius then walked Donna out of the tower and onto the roof. Once on the roof, the two stopped, and Donna turned to him.

"I'll text you later." Donna said, "Keep me in the loop. And if you find out anything about these guys who have you on a hit list, let me know immediately."

The mute Titan nodded.

"I guess I should go then." Donna said, "I'll come and visit, I promise."

The two exchanged smiles as Donna took off. Waving each other off, Polybius headed back inside to help Cyborg in the search. Once there, he found Robin and him looking at a screen.

"Hey, Polybius, quick question for you." Robin said as Polybius approached them, "Why did you bail on us when Mother May Eye showed up."

Pulling out his phone, Polybius explained his situation.

'Because I went to my room rather than join you all for pie, I was completely unaware of her presence in the tower. And when we got the double alert, I found out about her, but since it seemed that she was waiting on something. This led me to split from you guys as you went and felt with the HIVE while I dealt with the other threat. The plan was after that to really and rejoin you. But getting attacked and nearly killed, combined with Donna, and that I know you all are capable people, I figured that you could take care of yourselves while I dealt with that.'

"Okay…" Robin said, looking over the text, "Next time, go straight for us."

Polybius nodded his understanding.

"Now why don't you go and get some rest." Robin ordered, "Sounds like you had a rough day."

Polybius nodded and then did as he was told.

"He also needs to relax with his girlfriend, Donna. I am almost a hundred percent sure that those two more than likely hung out. And when she comes over, he and Star are gonna get into it." Cyborg said, "We all remember how Star and BB fought over Terra."

"Well, in that situation, Beast Boy had more romantic feelings towards her. And I think we all know he doesn't feel that way towards her." Robin said, "However, that conflict is a foreseeable one."

"Come on, man!" Cyborg countered, "We both know they like each other and just aren't admitting it!"

"If it were any other two people, I'd agree. But considering their mindset, I'm not so sure." Robin countered.

"What do you mean?" Cyborg questioned, "The first person she goes to is him. I don't know what screams 'I like you' more than that."

At that moment, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven walked in.

"Hey, guys!" Cyborg shouted, "Come back me up here!"

"On what?" Stafford asked.

"Aren't Polybius and Donna totally into each other, and both denying it." Cyborg stated.

"Totally." Beast Boy said.

"I must admit they would make an adorable couple." Stafford commented.

"Maybe Donna. But not Polybius." Raven answered.

"Aw, come on, Rae! You know they both are totally in love." Cyborg insisted.

"Even if Polybius is, I'm not sure he would want to pursue one." Raven explained, "We've all seen how he does get about romance."

"Donna tends to get the same way." Starfire commented, "It would make them perfect for each other!"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed, "They should totally hook up. And we'll call it Polynna! No, wait! Donnbius! We totally gotta hook them up!"

As the Titans discussed what they thought about the aspect of Polybius and Donna becoming more romantically involved, Polybius sat in his rocking chair in his room. He too was thinking about Donna, but not in a romantic way. Instead, he was looking at his relationships with her versus the others.

And in his deep thinking about that, he realized something. He trusted Donna more than he did the others. Despite not seeing her for more than a year and having minimal contact since she left, he felt closer to her than the others. And he was quite okay with that.

Unknown to anyone on Earth, on a planet far away, the leaders of an alien race gathered. Their world was dying, and they needed a new place to live. And for them, the perfect planet to move onto was Earth.

They were quick to begin developing plans for a full and outright invasion of the planet for a hostile takeover. This followed by the extermination of the native fauna as well.

"It'll be perfect." The leader said, "Once Earth is ours, our species will live on! All we have to do is win!"

**And there you have it! Chapter 29 of The Terror of Sileance. I am thankful that you took the time out of your day to read it and I also hope you have a good rest of your day!**


	30. Chapter 30: Fearless

_Chapter 30_

_Fearless..._

Today was the day! The day the world was going to end. At least according to Raven. And Polybius was excited. Today was undoubtedly going to be a fun day.

Taking Raven back to the tower, the Titans put her in a room they had preemptively prepared for this.

Raven, clearly nervous, and sure that the Titans couldn't defeat Trigon, began to meditate.

Polybius was ordered to the front door of the tower to stand watch.

As he watched, he thought back to his childhood. A particular song came to his mind. He decided to text a modified version of it to Raven.

Once he sent it off, he saw Slade standing not too far from him and ready to engage.

"Hello, Polybius." Slade said, "Are you ready for the end of the world?"

Polybius gave a broad, uncharacteristically sadistic smile as he hit the alarm button on the side of the wall. This informed the others that it was showtime.

The smile clearly took Slade off guard as he could see a somewhat surprised look on his face. However, he quickly calmed and gave a small chuckle.

"You know, out of all of you Titans, you are the one I would assume would want to go down fighting. Spend the last miserable day of your life, fighting. That just seems so you." Slade told the Titan.

Quickly being joined by the others, Slade demanded Raven, or they would die. Naturally, they rejected the ultimatum, and they found themselves surrounded by an army of fire monsters.

"Attack!" Slade ordered.

Polybius quickly found himself in a fight with over a dozen monsters. They were quick to steal his backpack from him. This was a mistake, however, as Polybius, fully prepared, unleashed his back tentacles on them.

Being surrounded, Polybius drew out four tentacles from his back. Bending over, putting the opening in his back at the highest point, Polybius swung the four tentacles around in a helicopter motion, taking out every single monster that got caught inside the range of the attack.

"Since when could you do that!?" Cyborg asked Polybius as the mute stood up.

The Titan gave him a thumbs-up as he took a moment to catch his breath. After a few seconds passed, Polybius continued to engage.

Swinging his tentacles left and right, destroying every monster in his path.

Seeing Robin struggle with Slade, Polybius used one of his tentacles to reach over and take Slade by surprise. Hitting the man with the speed and force of a runaway crazy train, Polybius sent him flying across the island.

"Thanks." Robin said as Polybius confirmed to annihilate many more monsters.

As the fight raged on outside, Raven pulled herself to her feet. Looking at her phone for the time, she saw that it had one message. It was from Polybius. She opened it up and read it out loud.

'When I get to Hell!'

'Trigon's gonna say 'Hey!"

'How'd you earn your livin' boy?'

'How'd you earn your pay?'

'And I will reply with a whole lot of anger!'

'Earn my pay as a Teen Titan!'

'Driving on!'

'All day!'

'Through the night! Hey!'

Staring at the text, a wave of confusion washed over Raven. How could he be so confident? At least his text seemed to show that.

"Well, I hope you're ready to meet him." Raven quietly said to herself, "Because you're about to meet him."

After ten minutes of fighting, all of the Titans minus Polybius had been subdued. And Raven came out and broke up the fight. She then had a brief conversation with the Titans before putting them to sleep.

Naturally, when they woke up, they went after her. And were stopped just short of convincing her to not go through with it.

A blinding flash of light. A massive roar followed by something, and then BAM Polybius woke up in the park. Or rather, a hellish version of it.

That was what Polybius was able to recall as he woke up at the base of the water fountain. Or rather a lava fountain when he looked at it a second time.

Looking around, Polybius faced the reality that he had now become apart of. Raven fulfilled her destiny, and now he was living in all that was left.

Today was supposed to be a good day. Not the last. And so long as he was alive, he would keep fighting until it was for sure it was final. And if it was his final, it would be determined unitl he was dead.

However, looking around, things seemed hopeless. But that didn't bother Polybius. Nothing could now! Because he had nothing left to lose!

Quickly making his way through the park, he saw what had happened to the people. It looked like Medusa had shown her face and everybody saw it. And with the current state of the world, if Polybius hadn't known better, had a baby with Satan.

But this was Trigon. The guy that looked like a horrifically mutated Clifford the big red dog in Polybius's mind.

Exiting the park, Polybius saw the big demon sitting on his new throne. That throne made of what was left of Titans tower.

Polybius began to move towards the tower. However, a raven caught his attention. It seemed that it wanted him to follow it, and he did. This led him to a building where he found the other Titans, where they had a short discussion.

They all knew they had too, they came to the conclusion that somehow, Raven had protected them. And that she had hope that they could beat him. And so, the team decided to launch an all-out attack on the massive demon.

This didn't go well at all. Instead, the team got their butts handed to them and forced them to break contact.

Being sent into the basement of the museum. There, they met Slade and devised a plan to go get Raven back and defeat Trigon. All Polybius would have to do is be a distraction with Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy.

The team, despite their better judgment, decided to work with Slade. Seeing as how neither he nor they had anything left to lose, the four decided to make another all-out attack on Trigon again.

Attacking Trigon again proved to be indecisive. However, the demon had a plan to deal with the four of them.

Appearing in front of the mute stood an evil Polybius. This wasn't Darkbius or Hostbius. This was him with a skin pigmentation that matched Raven's and red eyes. He gave Polybius a sinister smile as the two engaged each other.

Taking Polybius by storm, the evil Polybius quickly took the Titan head-on in a tentacle wrestling contest.

This led to being an indecisive engagement, but Polybius would admit, he was on the losing end of it.

Opting to go close quarters, the evil Polybius decided to rush the good Polybius. He quickly attacked him, causing the good to give ground in a frenzy of punches and kicks. As Polybius gave ground, he was under too much pressure to even attempt to counter, and as a result, was driven back to the cliff's edge.

Once on the edge, the evil Polybius then delivered one swift kick and knocked Polybius back into the cavern. Looking down for a moment, the evil smiled as he turned his back and began to walk away.

However, only eight paces away, he felt a tentacle wrap around his ankle. He looked down and back to see that Polybius had grabbed onto him from the bottom of the cliff. The good was then quick to drag the evil into the cavern with him and submerge under the blanket of darkness that filled the cavern.

However, the evil used his back tentacles to untangle itself from Polybius's grip and stand upright. By this point, both combatants had swapped over to their night vision as well.

Good Polybius smiled as he backed off his evil counterpart. The two stared at each other down for a brief moment before charging each other. Once within arms reach of each other, they began to try and choke the other out. However, this devolved more into a wrestling match rather quickly as neither one could gain the upper hand.

Breaking off, the evil Polybius did manage to turn the tide of the fight in his favor by giving Polybius a hard upwards kick. This hit Polybius with so much power that it sent him flying away from the rest of his teammates.

Crashing inside the city, Polybius picked himself up and looked up just in time to see the evil Polybius bringing a tentacle down on him. Polybius narrowly dodged this attack but wasn't outside of the range of the shockwave it created. This caused Polybius to fly a few feet before he rolled down a hill.

Catching on a stone street light, Polybius quickly collected himself and stood up. The evil Polybius stood at the top of the hill, looking down on him with a wicked smile. This didn't phase Polybius as he moved to the middle of the street and took up a fighting stance.

Electing to keep things at more of a distance, Polybius used his back tentacles to pick up rocks and begin hurling them. The evil Polybius was quick to dodge these attacks and start countering by doing the same thing.

This forced Polybius to move for cover as rocks came flying at him. Now with both the good and evil behind cover, they continued to hurl stones at each other, neither one land a significant hit.

After a good half an hour of throwing rocks back and forth at each other, good Polybius found himself on the back foot again. Evil Polybius had just thrown a car-sized rock at him, which he narrowly escaped, but the cover he was behind was destroyed, leaving him completely exposed.

Quickly giving a lot of ground, Polybius tactically withdrew further down the street. The evil counterpart followed him and decided to launch himself at the good.

Polybius turned to face him and caught the evil mid-air. The good then slammed into him as hard as he could. However, as Polybius began to pull away, the evil one shot out his stomach at the good. Polybius narrowly dodged this attack, but did have to take a step back, and thus, was unable to exploit anything.

Stepping back, the evil quickly got up, drew his stomach back inside his body, and attacked Polybius with his tentacles, wrapping one around his feet and lifting him up. The good meanwhile warped his around the evil's neck and tried to control his movement.

Dragging the evil around, Polybius was able to pull his evil counterpart towards Cyborg and his evil counterpart. The two came between them as the evil slammed Polybius into the ground. This caused Polybius to lose grip on his opponent's neck.

"Polybius!" Cyborg shouted as he tried to rush over to him.

Cyborg would never reach Polybius as he was quickly stormed by his evil counterpart and sent flying more than half a mile away from the mute Titan.

Good Polybius got up on his knees quickly and looked his evil counterpart in the eye. They both looked at each other for a brief moment before something way unexpected happened.

Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Darkbius punched the evil Polybius across the face. This caused evil Polybius to go stumbling to the left with a surprised look on his face. It wasn't so much as a surprise from the attack, but it instead seemed to be the presence of Darkbius. And the good Polybsiu was sharing the same reaction as well.

"Don't act surprised." Darkbius told him "I'm sorry, but I can't let you kill Polybius. Isn't that right?"

"That's right." The voice of Hostbius said.

The evil Polybius looked at Darkbius and Hostbius with a mixed look of surprise and terror on his face.

"You done fucked up." Hostbius said.

Darkbius then charged the evil Polybius, who attempted to use his tentacles to attack them. However, Darkbius was easily able to dodge these attacks and punch him in the chest. While he wasn't a heavy hitter, this did cause the evil Polybius to stumble back.

As the evil Polybius gave ground to Darkbius, he was driven away from Polybius, who just looked at the situation with shock. Hostbius meanwhile, moved in front of him and looked down at him.

"Go help the others." He ordered, "We've got this, poser."

Polybius was grateful for the help, but he wanted to know why.

"And don't worry." Hostbius said as he turned away from the mute, "We will win."

Hostbius then rushed off to join Darkbius in fighting the evil Polybius, leaving Polybius in the dust.

Not wasting any time, Polybius picked himself up and rushed off to help Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy.

Seeing the three all on an island rock and surrounded by their counterparts, Polybius was quick to jump in and intervene.

"Polybius?" Cyborg asked, "Where's your evil counterpart?"

Polybius waved him off as he alone faced the evil counterparts of Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg.

"Well, this is unexpected." The evil Cyborg said, "But not unwelcome."

"It shall be most fun destroying you ourselves." The evil Starfire said.

The mute Titan then snapped his fingers and pointed to Trigon. He then did his best to order them to go.

"No way!" Beast Boy said, "Are you trying to die!?"

Polybius then turned back to them with a look of authority in his eyes. The Titans, who had never seen this before, backed off.

"He's giving us an opportunity to attack Trigon." Cyborg said, "Let's go."

They didn't say anything as they quickly scurried off to face the big monster. Polybius, meanwhile, turned back and faced the evil counterparts of his teammates.

"Bring it, pretty boy." The evil Cyborg taunted.

The evil Beast Boy transformed into a Spinosaraus, and the trio charged him. As they advanced, the evil Starfire and Cyborg shot starbolts and sonic cannon blasts at him. However, Polybius shrugged this off and kept his cool and used his back tentacles to attack them.

Quickly getting all three of the evil counterparts caught up, Polybius put the squeeze on them and was almost immediately able to subdue them.

"Remind me to never get in a fight with that guy." Beast Boy said as he, Cyborg, and Starfire watched what had just happened.

Upon defeating the three evil counterparts, they all turned into red orbs that flew into their respective hero. Everyone expect Polybius, who didn't have one fly into him. The mute assumed it was because either Darkbius and/or Hostbius had done something to him. Or they were still fighting him. Either way, it didn't bother Polybius as the two seemed to know what they were doing.

"Well alright, then." Cyborg said, "Star, you still got that ring?"

The alien shook her head as she revealed a shattered ring.

"Ah great." Cyborg said.

"Now what?" Beast Boy asked.

"We fight." The four suddenly heard the voice of Robin say.

Looking at their leader, they saw him standing with a small child dressed in white, sort of hiding behind him.

"Raven?" They questioned as they looked at her.

Robin then explained what had happened to him on his journey to find her. Polybius just shook his head as Robin finished his story.

"Well, so much for that." Beast Boy said.

"What do we do now?" Starfire asked.

"We fight." Robin said, "One last attack. All or nothing. Either we win, or we die."

Polybius nodded his head, knowing that was the only way. There were no other options at this point. And if he died today, then so be it. He was sure that if Darkbius and Hostbius were watching over, they would try and do something if it seemed like Polybius was about to die.

After having one last talk with Raven, the Titans were discovered by Trigon. And with the assist from Slade, they did manage to give the demon a good run for his money. Yet despite their best efforts, one powerful eye blast from the creature was enough to take everyone down, even Polybius.

And while it would seem that Polybius and the Titans had finally been brought to his knees and defeated, Raven then found her second wind.

Turning back into an adult, she then defeated her father in one powerful and epic show and display of force and power. And in one final attack, she reset the world back to normal.

Once the team returned to the tower, they all settled down and had a celebration to celebrate the victory over the demon. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were cracking jokes, Robin and Raven were at the window being happy. Polybius, meanwhile, was deep in thought.

The mute's thoughts laid with Darkbius and Hostbius. How despite everything they had shown him thus far, they stepped in and saved him today. He was trying to figure out why they had done that for him. It made him uncomfortable that they had done that. The mute Titan almost wished that hadn't happened.

"Right, Polybius!?" Cyborg shouted, quickly bringing Polybius out of his thoughts.

Polybius shot a confused look.

"You're the toughest guy on the team!" Cyborg clearfield.

The mute smiled and shook his head.

"Man! Robin and Rae, you shoulda seen him out there today." Cyborg said, "Not only did he defeat his own evil counterpart, but he then also took on all three of ours at once as well as soon as he was finished with his!"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy confirmed, "It was freaking awesome! He destroyed them in seconds!"

"That doesn't surprise me." Raven said, "Considering the last text I got from him, I think he knew all along we were gonna win."

"Text?" Robin asked.

"Look at this." Raven said, pulling out her phone for all to see.

Everybody except Polybius then read the text and laughed.

"Well dang!" Cyborg said, "Polybius ain't scared of nobody!"

"I thought we established that the night of the Wicked Scary monster attack." Beast Boy said.

"But this is different." Starfire said, "Polybius never showed fear, even in the face of an almost assured defeat."

"Polybius don't take no crap from nobody!" Beast Boy declared, "I'm so glad you're on our side, dude."

Polybius smiled as he turned his back to the Titans. He began to think about his current situation with the Titans and thought that while things weren't as good as they had been in the past, they were on good terms now. And he was happy to once again call them family for however long it lasted.

**There you have it. Chapter 30! We're getting closer to the end now, but I still hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	31. Chapter 31: Love or No Love

_Chapter 31_

_Love or No Love..._

Not even a week after beating Trigon, the Titans once again found themselves in a new high stakes fight. This one was far different than the previous one they had faced.

After bailing the Doom Patrol out of a tight situation due to their connection with Beast Boy, Robin decided to really push the idea of going global. The reason being is that the Brotherhood of Evil was a global threat, and it made sense to Polybius. The mute Titan had long supported this idea, as he saw it as a way for the Titans to get stronger.

In terms of the organization of the Titans, however, Polybius didn't fully back Robin's idea. Polybius argued for a more decentralized and autonomous system. He explained that the recruits should be able to continue the way they did things, rather than standardize it like the League had, as everybody knew it had run into severe problems.

After a lengthy discussion, Robin agreed to many of Polybius's points but still stayed more centralized than Polybius would have liked. Regardless, Polybius was happy that Robin did see things his way.

That being said, there was still the massive problem of going global. That being, the Titans had few honorary members, Titans East and Wonder Girl, being the only ones to come to Polybius's mind. If they were to go global, they would have to go on a massive recruiting campaign.

And thus, Robin then decided to launch a recruiting camping in a rather unconventional manner. Rather than trying to reach out to them, Robin wanted to go to them.

"Couldn't we just mail them T communicators and call them over the phone like normal people?" Beast Boy questioned as the team split.

"No." Robin said, "Mailing them leaves too many possibilities for interception by the Brotherhood of Evil. We need to deliver these in-person to maximize the safety of the delivery."

"Great." Beast Boy said, "What about Polybius, what is he doing?"

"We lost touch with Wonder Girl a week ago." Robin said, "I'm sending him to see what's up."

"Maybe her mom caught her and took her phone away from her." Beast Boy replied, "And what good is sending Polybius gonna do? Don't they all hate him?"

"Yes." Robin answered, "However, if anything goes wrong, or is wrong, Polybius is the one who can most likely take care of it on his own."

"He is the toughest." Beast Boy agreed, "So, where are you sending him?"

"He's starting in Izmir, in her last known location." Robin said, "From there, he is going to follow the route we think she took towards Syria and Iraq where we think she headed."

"But aren't they super strict on how women are supposed to be over there?" Beast Boy questioned, "Why would she go that way?"

"It's more than likely she doesn't know about that." Robin replied, "And quite possibly, she got herself in an ugly situation."

"Oh." Beast Boy said, "Then shouldn't somebody go with him?"

"As of right now, we need to rush this mass recruitment effort." Robin said.

"But still. What about the Syria civil war, or ISIS? Aren't they coming back in the region?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Again, yes." Robin said, "However, out of all of us, Polybius is the most likely to survive."

"Survive?" Beast Boy asked, "You don't mean she's dead?"

"Possibly." Robin answered, "We think from Iraq, she may have gone either east to Afghanistan or south to Saudia Arabia."

"So why are you sending Polybius to a warzone?" Beast Boy asked, "We don't want him to die!"

"He volunteered for this." Robin countered.

"Cause it's Donna?" Beast Boy asked.

"Maybe." Robin said, "However, I'm quite sure he would do the same for the rest of us."

"I swear, that girl is gonna get him killed." Beast Boy commented.

A few hours later, Polybius touched down in Afghanistan. The trail he was on seemed to lead her to her coming here, towards the end of Taliban controlled and Afgan republic territory. This meant there were more than likely several threats in the area, and thus, Polybius decided to go on foot to minimize the danger to himself.

Hiking towards the mountains, Polybius had reason to believe that for whatever reason, she decided going into the mountains of Afghanistan alone was a good idea. Polybius was confident that she had no clue what she was doing, and was just trying to do a good job. She just had to learn as to where to draw the line between an attainable goal and lost cause, and whatever she was chasing was a lost cause. Especially for females in this region of the world.

Regardless, Polybius traveled deep into the mountains in the summer heat of Afghanistan. Sweat coated his body as he marched towards where he believed he might either find her or his next clue.

As he got closer to his objective, he took a seat on a rock to rest and drink water. As he did this, he saw an American convoy roll through the valley below. Somehow, they didn't spot him as he was sitting wide in the open. He watched as they moved down the valley and then BOOM!

A massive explosion rocked the second humvee, blowing it to bits and sending pieces flying in every direction. Polybius was taken off guard by the blast and was startled by the suddenness of it all.

Looking back down in the valley, Polybius was quick to scram as the American soldiers began pulling security, and he didn't want to get shot. Once to safety, Polybius remembered something he had been told to watch out for in the region.

Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs as they were more commonly known.

Robin had said that IEDs were the number one killer of American soldiers on the battlefield and that Polybius needed to be extremely careful of them. It was strongly advised that he stayed off of main roads and away from deep water, as that was where they were most likely to be.

Soon after getting to a safe distance away, Polybius took off on foot and resumed his search for Donna.

After a long and exhausting, but relatively quiet journey except for the IED. And his trip ended up in a cave in the mountains.

Looking at the cave, Polybius's theory is that after a recent terrorist attack in Izmir, that Donna stopped, she found out that the Taliban had taken responsibility for it in response to some political action Turkey had done recently. Donna, wanting to prove to herself that she was now a hero and not a damsel in distress, she went after them. And more than likely was either captured, dead, or hopefully lost.

And this cave is where some local Afghans had said that a woman with a description that matched Donna's, had gone.

Entering the cave, Polybius swapped over to his heat vision, his eyes turning orange. He moved slowly and cautiously as he advanced.

And it wasn't long until he found something.

Looking down the cave, Polybius clearly saw a person at the end of the tunnel. Who it was, he couldn't tell. But they were sitting down and had their knees in their chest, and were more than likely asleep.

Walking towards the person, they did not detect his presence as they were indeed asleep. Getting right next to them, Polybius swapped over to his night vision, causing his eyes to turn green. And when he did, he was happy with what he found.

What he found was Donna passed out sleeping. She looked to be unhurt and sleeping somewhat peacefully.

Reaching into his backpack, Polybius pulled out a flashlight and swapped over to his normal vision. Turning it on, Polybius pointed it at her feet and not her face as he knelt down next to her.

The mute Titan gently shook her awake, and she jumped hard.

"Ah!" Donna shouted as Polybius backed off, "Who are you!?"

Polybius then pointed the flashlight to himself. Donna went wide-eyed for a split second before calming down.

"Oh, thank the gods, it's you." She said with relief.

Polybius smiled as he took the flashlight off his face. From there, he extended a hand to her, and she took it.

"Okay, so you're probably wondering what I'm doing down here." Donna said as Polybius began leading her out of the cave, "And hear me out."

The mute was all ears as he listened to her story.

"So, you remember those guys who attacked and tried to kill you?" Donna asked.

The mute nodded.

"Well, I went over to that city in Turkey to see if I could get some answers, and from there, somebody said that the badge was a member of somebody from a Taliban group known in English as 'The Containers.' Their job is specifically to learn how to combat and neutralize western superheroes. And that after my older sister, Wonder Woman, stopped an attack from happening in DC, they decided to try and assassinate you to retaliate." Donna explained, "Because taking another look at the list, I realized that the other people that were on it were also superheroes with close relations to Diana. And that Superman was actually on a mission in Thessaloniki when I ran into them in Athens."

Polybius continued to listen intently as the two exited the cave.

"So thinking I could get to the bottom of this myself, I decided to see if I could investigate while my mother and sisters performed a multi-day ritual. I figured I could escape long enough for me to perform an extended investigation of this. However, what I found was nothing. No people, no weapons, no supplies, not a darn thing."

Polybius thought about what she had said for a moment before using his phone to text her a response.

'Well, not all leads lead to a good outcome. Most lead to dead ends, but you do have valuable information. If true, then we need to inform your sister, the Titans, and the League of this development.' Polybius texted.

Donna pulled out her phone, read the text, and nodded.

"At least I've got that going for me." Donna commented.

'Don't feel bad. It took me almost a year to bring down Montezuma, the same with Robin, to bring down Slade the first time. It may take us a year to bring this down.' Polybius texted

"It's not that." Donna said, "I just hate the thought that there are people out there who want you dead."

'People wanting me dead is nothing new. Before I was born, people wanted me dead.' Polybius texted.

"Since before you were born?" Donna asked, clearly confused.

Polybius nodded but chose not to elaborate on it. He instead began making his way down the mountain, and Donna quickly followed. However, she did not let that drop.

"What do you mean before you were born?" Donna asked.

The mute shook his head. He didn't want to tell her about that. And luckily enough for him, Donna picked up on that and dropped it.

The trip back to Polybius's ship was a short and quiet one. Donna didn't say much as the two hiked towards the ship. Once there, Donna noticed a rather major underlying problem.

"Uh, is there only one seat?" Donna asked.

'We both can fit in there.' Polybius texted.

"How?" Donna questioned.

'Just sit on my lap or something.' Polybius texted back.

Donna gave him a concerned and slightly embarrassed look about the idea. However, both of them knew she needed to get back to her island as soon as possible.

However, this would have to wait, as, without warning, they heard the classic cartoon sound of something falling.

BOOM!

A massive explosion fifty meters away from them and the ship blasted the two young heroes. The force of the blast was enough to knock both of them off their feet, but the ship sustained no damage.

Hitting the ground, the two were able to quickly able to pick themselves up and take up a battle stance.

"Where did that come from!?" Donna shouted.

Scanning the mountains, Polybius spotted an observer who had eyes on them. Polybius could tell he was talking. He was almost sure that the person was calling in another strike.

As rubble rained down on them, Polybius quickly rushed to Donna's side and pointed at the observer.

"Got it!" Donna said.

Grabbing hold of her hand, Donna flew the two of them up the mountain. The observer quickly got up and took off, but not fast enough, that the two heroes weren't able to catch up to him. Flying over him, Polybius let go of Donna's hand and dropped down on the observer. Landing on their back, Polybius quickly forced them into submission.

The observer began shouting in an Afghani language the mute didn't understand. However, as Donna pushed on to deal with the mortar team, Polybius got hit with another explosion. This one from the forward observer, whose head exploded.

Polybius got splattered in blood and brains as he was pushed off the observer by the blast. Hitting the ground hard and landing on his back, Polybius rolled over to his side and quickly picked himself up and looked at the headless corpse.

Polybius was sure this wasn't a coincidence. This had to be linked with what happened to him in Jump City.

Hearing another series of explosions, Polybius ran up the mountain a little bit to find Donna covering her face and looking away, eyes shut tight. She walked back a few paces before stopping and lowering her arms to see a bunch of headless corpses.

"What in Zeus's name?" Donna questioned as she looked at the bodies.

Polybius, too, was shocked by what he was seeing. This made no sense to him.

Donna looked back up at the mute and went wide-eyed.

"Polybius!" Donna shouted.

Reacting faster than he did, Donna quickly flew forward and right past Polybius. The mute could hear the sound of her fist punching someone.

Looking back, Polybius saw a man with a hatchet in his hand lying on the ground. Two seconds later, his head was blown off as well.

"Are you alright!?" Donna immediately questioned.

The mute nodded his head and pointed at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Donna replied.

Polybius then gave a thumbs up and began looking around at the bodies and equipment to see if he could find anything. Donna did the same, and the two scoured the battlefield for an hour only to come up with nothing.

"Polybius?" Donna asked as he examined another body, "I've gotta go."

Polybius looked up at her, and she pointed in the direction of the ship.

"I can't stay out much longer." Donna said, "If I do, my mother will find out if she hasn't already."

Polybius nodded as he stood up. Looking around one last time at the battlefield, he began making his way towards the ship.

Boarding the ship, Donna hesitantly sat on the mute's lap as they took off. Polybius could tell Donna was a little uncomfortable by this. However, they didn't have a choice. The pods of the ships weren't designed for two people.

It took them a few hours to reach Naxos, where they would part ways. However, once on the ground, Donna stopped and looked at him before she took off.

"I'll, uh, see you later." Donna told him.

Polybius held up his phone before texting her.

'Just keep in touch.' Polybius texted.

"Right." Donna said.

She hated saying goodbye to Polybius. However, she knew she couldn't stay with him much longer.

She hesitated as she turned her back to him. However, just before she took off, she heard someone shout.

"WAIT!" A feminine voice shouted.

Looking back, Polybius and Donna saw Starfire flying towards them at high speed.

"Don't you dare leave without saying goodbye to me!" Starfire shouted, "And not without a hug!"

Starfire then flew into Donna and wrapped her arms around her in one of her hugs. Polybius swore he could almost hear Donna's bones cracking under the pressure as Starfire held onto her tight.

"Good to see you too, Starfire." Donna managed out.

Polybius could see Donna was in obvious pain and quickly moved to separate the two. Starfire, while reluctant, did break off of her as Polybius got between them.

"How have you been friends!?" Starfire asked happily, "Are you undamaged?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Donna replied.

"You must tell me what happened to you!" Starfire demanded, "I do not like it when my friends stop communicating with me."

"Oh, I was just chasing after a lead." Donna said, "That's all."

"That took you to the place called 'Afghanistan?'" Starfire asked.

"Yeah." Donna replied, "Thought I got a break on the case of the guys who attacked and tried to kill Polybius."

"Did you find anything?" Starfire questioned.

"No." Donna answered.

"I see." Starfire said, glancing over at Polybius, "Come, why don't we sit down, and you can tell me all about what happened!"

"No can do Starfire." Donna replied "I've gotta get going home. I've been away for long enough."

"Then I shall fly you over there!" Starfire declared.

"You don't have too." Donna said, "I can take care of myself."

"That is unacceptable!" Starfire proclaimed, "I have long been seeking to spend time with you, and every time you show up, you spend all of it with Polybius! I am starting to think you might be avoiding me."

"No!" Donna quickly countered "It's not that at all. It's just the last time I ran into him, and we got caught up in work, and this time he was sent after me. I promise you I'm not avoiding you at all."

"Then let me fly you home." Starfire said.

"Starfire, you know I can't let you do that." Donna said, "What if my sisters catch you?"

"Then I will stop just before we come within eyesight of your home." Starfire said.

Donna then looked to Polybius for support. The mute attempted to convince Starfire otherwise over text. However, she refused to look at her phone to respond.

"I will not look at my phone, so you can try to convince me otherwise." Starfire declared.

Polybius grew frustrated as Starfire knew that pissed him off. He grabbed her shoulder, but she brushed him off.

"I am going to fly Donna home, and there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise." Starfire said.

Polybius looked back at Donna, frustration visible on his face. She picked up on this and quickly tried a new tactic.

"Why are you making Polybius upset?" Donna questions.

"I am not!" Starfire said, "Polybius just needs to stop doing the hogging of you all to himself."

"He's not!" Donna said, now growing angry.

"He is too!" Starfire said.

Donna let out a sharp sigh before putting a hand on her head in an angered manner.

"Look." Donna said, "How about, next month, I come to visit the tower and spend most of my time with you. Will that make you happy?"

"Yes!" Starfire said, "But you must still let me fly you home."

"Fine." Donna conceded.

"Yay!" Starfire said happily.

Polybius looked at Donna with a look of concern. He was afraid of the outcome of this decision.

"It's alright." Donna answered, "I'll text you later."

Polybius gave her a thumbs up.

"Come, friend! Let us get going! I am eager to speak with you!" Starfire said, grabbing Donna's hand.

"Bye, Polybius." Donna said.

Polybius waved as he watched Starfire and Donna fly away. Once they were out of sight, Polybius boarded his ship and began to make a report to Robin of his findings.

Meanwhile, Starfire and Donna flew towards Paradise Island. As they did, Starfire was quick to fire up a conversation.

"I must ask Donna, why do you choose to spend all of your time away from your home with Polybius?" Starfire asked.

"Why?" Donna said, "I already told you why."

"And you wouldn't be upset if I said that I do not fully believe you." Starfire said.

"What do you mean?" Donna questioned.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Starfire asked.

"No." Donna said, "What is it?"

"I think you love him." Starfire stated.

Donna stopped dead in her flight and was shocked by what she had just heard.

"Love!?" Donna questioned.

"Oh yes!" Starfire said, "And you two would make such a cute couple!"

"Us? A couple?" Donna questioned, "No, there is no way that could happen. And my mother would kill me if she found out."

"Oh, who cares what your mother thinks." Starfire countered, "It's obvious to the rest of us that you two certainly like each other a lot."

"But we're more like best friends." Donna said, "Not lovers. I don't think I look at Polybius in that way."

"Maybe not how Polybius looks at you, but how you look at him is far more believable." Starfire said.

"I don't love him." Donna asserted, "He's just my best friend off the island, that's it."

"And why is that?" Starfire asked.

"Because he is a man, and I don't have many guy friends. I've grown up around females all my life, and having a guy friend is a nice break from the norm." Donna explained.

"And?" Starfire pressed, "What is it about him that you like."

"Everything!" Donna answered, "I wish I could be more like him in my life."

"Really?" Starfire said.

"Yeah." Donna assured her, "He's so open-minded, strong, tough, nice, caring, awesome, sweet, and everything good! I just love it! I love him!"

Donna went wide-eyed as she realized what she had just said out loud. She quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. Starfire had heard it all.

"I told you." Starfire stated.

Donna was shocked by what she had just said and started to realize that maybe she did love him. She lowered her hands from her mouth and looked at them.

"I love him." She repeated, "I love Polybius..."

**And there you have it! Donna finally admits it, however, does Polybius feel the same way? We'll find out soon, but until then I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	32. Chapter 32: Let's Work Together

_Chapter 32_

_Let's Work Together..._

Having the ground collapse under your feet was never a good feeling. And then being dropped into a jungle was even more concerning. Especially when you swore up and down that you were just in the northernmost reaches of Canada before falling.

Pulling himself out of the river, Polybius looked around to see the other Titans on the ground, and Doctor Light nowhere to be seen.

Meeting up with the rest of his team, they collectively decided to go ahead and begin searching the jungle for Doctor Light. He needed to be brought down despite the exceptionally random and potentially hostile environment.

This led them to run into a group of living dinosaurs, a pack of raptors. They quickly surrounded the team, and fear overcame all of them except Polybius.

Beast Boy, after being told by Starfire to communicate with them, morphed into one and had a brief conversation with them.

"They want to eat us." Beast Boy said.

Without skipping a beat, the entire team jumped behind Polybius.

"Go get them, Polybius!" Cyborg said as the team shoved him towards the raptors.

Polybius looked at the raptors and pulled out his ax. He held it firm in one hand and got ready to battle.

The mute Titan wouldn't end up battling the raptors as two people suddenly jumped in and rescued them.

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna sat in her room to catch her breath. Her mother had grilled her hard about having not seen her for the past several days, but somehow, Donna managed to convince her mother that she hadn't snuck off. How her mother didn't figure out what she was really doing was far beyond her.

However, now that she was in the clear and a lot of stress subsided, her mind traveled back to Polybius. Specifically, her conversation about him with Starfire. And how she had accidentally declared that she loved him.

Donna laid down in her bed and began to think about her friendship with Polybius. And she was very quick to realize that when she compared the way she felt about Polybius versus her other best friend, Zenobia, she felt very differently towards them.

When it came to Zenobia or any of the other Titans for that matter, she felt okay around them. However, when she even thought about Polybius, she automatically felt better, regardless of what was going on. She felt far closer to him than she did anybody else at that moment in time, even her own mother.

"Maybe I am in love." Donna said, still not entirely sure if she was.

That being said, her mother had long preached that love outside of family had to involve sex. And Donna had no interest in that at all. It wasn't that Polybius was ugly, by no means. It's just ever since Montezuma had sexually abused her, she was too scared to even try it.

Nobody knew about Montezuma's sexual abuse towards her. She told nobody, not even Polybius. While he hadn't put his dick in her, he did do a lot of other things that hurt her. Donna remembered many times where he would shove something inside her pussy or worse, ass. He loved doing that, and she hated it. She would cry endlessly when he did it to her, and she felt so violated because of it.

However, thinking back to something Raven had told her, followed up by what Polybius had declared on the way back. She remembered him saying he lacked reproductive organs. Assuming this was true, then she would never have to fear that from him. And that didn't disrupt the aura of safety she felt when she was around him.

However, going back to her original point, Donna felt no sexual attraction to him. This made Donna question if love and romance could exist without sex. She wondered if it was possible to love somebody, not family, in a non-sexual way.

Back up north, Polybius sat outside the house and watched two dinosaurs fight over a carcass. It was quite cool and amusing to watch. Better than Jurassic Park, that was for sure in the mute's mind.

Meanwhile, outside of his earshot range, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were sitting on the ground and talking.

"So, she really said she loved him!?" Beast Boy asked in a hushed tone.

"She did!" Starfire assured them.

"What are you three talking about?" Robin asked as he and Raven approached them.

"Hush!" The three in question quickly hushed, catching the two off guard.

"What are you talking about?" Robin then asked in a more hushed tone.

"Tell em Star." Cyborg encouraged.

"Donna said she loved Polybius." Starfire said.

"Really!?" Both Robin and Raven questioned.

Starfire nodded.

"Now, we gotta hook them up." Cyborg said.

"Totally!" Beast Boy agreed.

"Now, hold up." Raven said, "Starfire, did you force her to say that?"

"No." Starfire quickly replied, "She said it of her own free will."

"Come on, Rae." Cyborg said, "Donna is the perfect girl for him.

"I can't help but agree." Robin said, "They seem almost made for each other."

"And what about Polybius?" Raven asked.

"Polybius needs a girlfriend in his life." Cyborg said, "Dude is so anti-dating and stuff, having Donna as his girl will open him up."

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said, "He won't be such a stickler for that kind of stuff."

"I don't think so." Raven said, "He seems to stand pretty strong against that kind of stuff."

"He is." Starfire said, "But it is not like Polybius to say no. And I bet we can get Donna to ask him out on a date, he would say yes! And they would make the cutest couple!"

"Yeah." Robin agreed, "Getting those two together would be a good thing for both of them."

"If you say so." Raven said.

"You know Rae, you could use a boyfriend too." Cyborg teased, causing Raven to tense up.

"No, I don't." Raven spat back quickly.

"Then help us hook them up, and we won't give you crap about it." Beast Boy said.

Raven groaned and sighed.

"Fine." Raven agreed.

However, what none of them knew is that other people were listening in on their conversation. Aside from Kole and Gnarrk, who weren't really paying attention to them, other figures were listening in.

Both Darkbius and Hostbius stood only five feet away from them as they listened to them talk.

"What do we do about this?" Hostbius asked Darkbius.

"I already got that figured out." Darkbius replied, "Just follow my lead."

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna was scrolling through her phone. Cyborg wasn't kidding when he said they could get signals anywhere. Going to the Titan's Twitter page, Donna began scrolling through posts. She stopped at one she wasn't aware was taken.

The picture was of Polybius and Donna sitting together on the couch. She had a smile and was laughing while Polybius was also smiling. The caption at the bottom was a simple question.

'Should these two hook up?'

Heading over to the comments, Donna began reading them. Almost all of them were chanting that they should hook up. Some were surprised that they weren't already a thing. And a few said other rude things, but the general consensus was clear, the internet thought they should become a couple.

Meanwhile, back up north, Polybius continued to watch dinosaurs fight over things. It was quite amusing to him.

"Hey?" He heard a voice ask.

Looking back, he saw Kole walking up to him.

"Polybius. Right?" She questioned.

The mute nodded.

"Got it." Kole said, "I think your friends are looking for you."

Polybius just waved it off. This clearly caught Kole off guard, and she had a confused look grow across her face.

"Are you not going to go join them?" Kole asked.

The mute shook his head.

"Why?" Kole questioned, "If you don't mind me asking."

What Kole didn't know, was that Darkbius was sitting right next to Polybius talking to him as well.

"Cause they don't want good things for him." Darkbius answered, only for Polybius to hear.

The mute shook his head.

"That's alright." Kole said, "I'll respect your privacy. However, I think they want to get with you so they can move out."

"Yeah, you should really get going." Darkbius said, "Go run off and get yourself hurt."

The mute stood up and began making his way to the Titans. They were his ride out of here, so he did need to leave with them.

As Polybius marched off, Darkbius stood by and watched him go. He smiled as he knew his work was done.

"You think she really loves him?" Hostbius asked.

"Yes." Darkbius said.

"And do you think she'll come to terms with it?" Hostbius asked.

"Yes." Darkbius repeated.

"And what about Polybius?" Hostbius asked.

"I'm not sure." Darkbius answered, "He certainly cares for her, more than his teammates, that is for certain. However, when it comes to love, I don't think he looks at her in that light. At least, not yet."

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna had put down her phone and went outside for a walk. She needed to clear her head and stop thinking about this.

However, as she walked, she ran into her long time friend, Zenobia.

"Hey Donna!" Zenobia greeted, "How's it going?"

"Better than yesterday." Donna replied.

"That's good to hear!" Zenobia replied, "I've gotta say, not seeing you for a couple days was really concerning."

"Ah, well, you know. Just had to get away." Donna said, "Ever since I went to man's world, I have missed it."

"And Polybius?" Zenobia teased.

"Yeah." Donna replied.

"Want to go see what he's doing?" Zenobia offered.

"At the well?" Donna asked.

"Of course!" Zenobia said.

"But won't my Mom get mad if she catches me, or anyone else for that matter, even looking at him?" Donna asked.

"Oh don't worry about that." Zenobia told her, "Like your Mom pays much attention to you these days. Otherwise, she would have figured out you have been sneaking off of the island to go play hero."

Donna's blood ran cold when her friend said that.

"But don't worry." Zenobia said, "Your secret's safe with me."

"You better not tell anyone!" Donna said, "I will get in a lot of trouble for that."

"I know." Zenobia replied, "But I don't think your Mom's gonna figure it out. Well, if she didn't figure it out when you vanished for more than a few days, then I think you're safe."

"I hope you're right." Donna said.

"Come!" Zenobia said, taking her friend's hand, "Let's go check out what Polybius is doing!"

Rushing up to the well, it wasn't long until they had an image of Polybius. He stood waist-deep in snow and had a look of anger on his face.

"What's he upset about?" Donna asked out loud.

The two teenage girls watched as a wave of snow hit him. He got showered in snow that moved the line from his waist to his chest.

"Upset that he's stuck in the snow." Zenobia said, "I've always wondered what snow looked like. Have you actually seen snow, Donna?"

"No." Donna replied, "Although Polybius is from a place called Alaska. He says that they get a lot of snow, and it's nothing to be excited about."

"Really?" Zenobia asked.

"Yeah." Donna replied, "He also said with how far north he lived, there was also a long part of the year where the sun never rises, and a part where night never comes up."

"Wow!" Zenobia said, "I wonder how that works?"

"I know Polybius has explained it to me before." Donna said, "I'll tell you about it later."

"Cool." Zenobia replied.

The girls then watched as Starfire pulled him out of the snow and then launched him with his modern ax in hand.

"I thought you said he had powers?" Zenobia asked.

"He does." Donna said.

"Then, what are they?" Zenobia asked, "Cause to me, all it looks like is that he doesn't."

"His powers hurt him." Donna explained, "So rather than use them, he acts more like Robin and uses weapons. However, when push comes to shove, Polybius's powers are something not to be messed with."

"I was about to say, because didn't he fight Diana to a draw?" Zenobia asked.

"I'd say he won." Donna said, "Because if she hadn't gotten medical attention immediately, and if Polybius hadn't volunteered to give her the blood she needed, she wouldn't be alive right now."

"Wow! Really!?" Zenobia asked in disbelief.

"Yep!" Donna said, "I've seen some of the videos. He really did put up a hard fight."

"You gotta show me that someday." Zenobia said.

"I will." Donna assured her.

Looking back into the well, the two girls watched as Polybius took a hit by a beam of light. He didn't seem even phased by it as he kept charging.

"I know you said he was tough." Zenobia said, "But it looks like he's tougher than nails."

"Oh he is." Donna said, "I've seen him take hits that would leave me in shambles."

"Amazing." Zenobia commented, "He really is something else."

"Yeah…" Donna agreed as they continued to watch him fight.

As they did, Zenobia looked up at Donna and saw she had a rather dreamy look in her eyes. Zenobia could tell by her facial expression when looking at him that she was very into him.

"Donna?" Zenobia asked.

Donna didn't respond.

"Donna." Zenobia said louder.

No response.

"Donna!" Zenobia shouted.

"What!?" Donna asked a little surprised by the loudness of her tone.

Zenobia laughed for a brief moment before saying, "I think you're in love with him."

"Bah!" Donna said "Don't be crazy. He's just my best friend off the island. That's all."

"Oh, please." Zenobia said, "You totally love him, and you know it."

"Sush!" Donna said, "Don't say that out loud!"

Zenobia giggled.

"My lips are sealed." Zenobia assured her.

"Thank you." Donna said.

"But I'm totally gonna use that as blackmail against you later." Zenobia assured her.

"I would expect nothing less from you." Donna replied.

Looking back at the well, the two girls saw Polybius get blasted by another wave of snow. While the two didn't know who he was fighting, they could tell that their only means of keeping Polybius back was to blast him with snow, so he would be forced to stop and cover his exposed face. And with a massive enough blast, it would force him back.

"I don't know who he is fighting, but they are not winning." Zenobia said.

"If that's their only way to keep Polybius back, then yeah." Donna agreed, "It's only a matter of time before Polybius closes in on them."

However, this wouldn't happen as Polybius seemed to lower his guard. He then stood by and watched whatever was going on in front of him. It wasn't long after that that the mute Titan pumped his fist into the air in a sign of victory.

"Looks like they won." Zenobia said.

"Of course, they did." Donna said, "They always win."

"Do they?" Zenobia asked, not quite fully believing her.

"They may not win every battle, but the Titans will win the war." Donna corrected.

"There you go." Zenobia said.

Meanwhile, back in Jump City, a new string of events were being set in motion.

"Nathan!" The voice called out.

"Yes?" Nathan asked, total monotone.

"So I've got a job for you." The voice said.

"And what would that be?" Nathan asked.

"Just do as I say, and this will all work out." The voice ordered.

Meanwhile, back up north, Polybius and the team headed back to the ship. Once there, Robin began talking to them.

"Alright, team. Listen up." Robin said, gaining everybody's attention, "I was thinking on our way back, and our recruitment efforts are going too slowly. I think it is best if we split up to speed this process up."

"Good idea." Cyborg quickly agreed, "If we keep getting bogged down like we have been on the last two missions, then there is no way we can get this all done."

The rest of the team quickly agreed to split up and going their separate ways. And as they flew apart, everyone, except Polybius, who was left out of the group chat, was texting back and forth.

'So how are we gonna hook Donna and Polybius up?' Beast Boy texted the group.

'You tell me.' Raven shot back.

'I say when she visits the tower, we get them on a setup date. That way we can force them into it and they realize how much they love each other and then BAM. They're a couple!' Beast Boy replied.

'Let's be a bit more practical here.' Cyborg replied.

'Yeah. Polybius isn't going to do anything he doesn't want to, and will adamantly fight us on it. While it's not a bad idea, we can't make it obvious.' Robin replied.

'I think it is a wonderful idea! But Robin is right, we need to be more subtle.' Starfire added.

'Then it's settled. We'll get them set up a date and get them alone together and help them along the way to loving each other!' Beast Boy declared.

Meanwhile, on a faraway planet, Wonder Woman soon found herself once again tasked out. An alien race decided to invade Earth, and the League had decided that a preemptive strike was the best course of action to take, leaving her unable to respond to any threats on Earth.

However, before leaving, she did take the time to pay a quick visit home. A short three-day venture to check up on Donna, but mostly inform her mother that she would be away for quite some time.

That being said, while Diana knew about Donna sneaking off the island, as she had seen the pictures online, she didn't say anything to their mother. Diana knew how much Donna wanted to be a hero, and she wasn't going to get that chance by sitting at home all day. Getting out there and testing her might be a good thing for her. And if she failed, then Diana knew that both of them could count on Polybius to bring her home safely.

**And there you have it! Chapter 32! I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	33. Chapter 33: You Gotta Move

_Chapter 33_

_You Gotta Move..._

One major problem the Brotherhood of Evil faced was Polybius. The Brain knew that Polybius was the toughest Titan. He could take hits that nobody else could. And while he often preferred to not use his powers, when he did, some doubted that even if they pulled every villain they had, they couldn't defeat him.

This left a significant hole in the Brain's plan. He suspected that regardless of who he sent to deal with Polybius, that the mute would win.

However, General Immortus had a plan.

The general argued that in order to defeat Polybius, they had to draw him into a place that best suited them. And that location would be none other than the lair they were in. And while it would be risky bringing him to the holding area of the rest of the frozen Titans, the general seemed confident that they could win.

In the meantime, while the other Titans were being taken down, the Brotherhood was going to send a few villains to keep him distracted.

That then left only one other major hole in their plans. That being how to bring down Wonder Girl.

The Brain had figured out about Montezuma's attack on Paradise Island and had no doubts that security had been amped up as a result, even if it was years ago. From what he could tell, the Aztec's attack seemed to leave a major scar on the Amazons as a whole, and they became far warier of the outside world than they had previously been.

The Brotherhood did have one significant advantage going for them in that situation, however. That being, Wonder Girl had to sneak off the island and was often left somewhat out of the loop. The idea was that by striking fast and hard, preferably while she would be sleeping, they could keep her out of the loop. The plan to deal with her would be to wait until she would sneak off and then take her out before she could link up with Polybius.

However, if the two did link up, then the odds of victory went down drastically. Polybius alone was a big enough threat. Combine him with Wonder Girl, easily one of the most powerful female Titans, and that spelled disaster.

And thus, on March 15th, the plan sprang into action. However, they ended up being forced to move slowly due to weather and ended up getting delayed by several hours. Far later than what they had initially intended to strike.

And while Polybius found himself hammered in a tight situation, on Paradise Island, a different threat began emerging.

Donna was laughing hard as she and Zenobia kept adding things to the original statement to make it even funnier than before. They were also a good distance away from the rest of the other Amazons.

However, good things could not last forever.

As the two turned a corner of one of the hills they had seen all their lives, they both stopped to catch their breaths.

"Oh, that is too funny." Zenobia commented.

"Oh, that was." Donna said, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Zenobia then walked forward a few steps to a steep edge and looked out at the island. They could see the vast Aegean Sea and the long distance from the edge of the cliff they were standing atop to the water below.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Zenobia asked as she took in the horizon.

"Yeah." Donna agreed, "Not as beautiful as the one form Titan's Tower." Donna countered.

"That's because you're with Polybius." Zenobia teased.

"Maybe." Donna replied, causing both of them to giggle.

"Too bad he isn't here to save you." A male voice suddenly spoke.

Before either girl could react, a razor-sharp red X came flying out of the bushes. It found its mark and sliced Zenobia's head in two, causing it to split open.

Donna's jaw dropped as she watched her friend's head split open like a flower blooming. The body of the girl then fell backward off the cliff and into the water.

"Zenobia!" Donna called out as the body of her friend fell off of the cliff and into the water below.

"Sucks to be you." Red X said as he walked out of the bushes.

Donna spun back and looked at the masked figure. He stood at a slightly shorter stature than herself.

"You killed her!" Donna shouted.

"Sure did, Captain Obvious." Red X stated, "And up next, is you."

Red X quickly fired two razor-sharp Xs at Donna. The Amazon, well trained by Wonder Woman, was easily able to dodge these.

"You're gonna pay for this!" Donna shouted.

"Catch me if you can." Red X teased.

The masked figure then took off into the forest and was closely pursued by Donna. He led her on a chase for a while, before suddenly vanishing just short of the main settlement on the island.

Not wasting any time, Donna went straight to her mother.

"Mom!" Donna shouted, tears in her eyes.

"Donna!?" Her mother replied, "What's wrong!?"

"Somebody just killed Zenobia!" Donna replied.

A look of shock came over her mother's face as well as the rest of the Amazons in the area.

"How!?" Her mother was quick to demand.

"Somebody from Man's world snuck on the island. He was targeting me, but ended up hitting Zenobia!"

"Search the island!" The queen quickly ordered as she moved to comfort her daughter "Bring me his head on a pike!"

As the Amazons were quick to obey and scatter, Donna began to sob. Her mother was quick to try and embrace her, but Donna moved away. This confused her mother greatly as she was confused as to why she did this and questioned it.

"No!" Donna said, "He's gotten away, and Zenobia's murder is going to go unpunished! And you won't let me do anything about it!"

"You mean you recognized the man who attacked you?" The queen asked, "Was it Montezuma?"

"No!" Donna said, collecting herself, "It was a villain the Titans had faced before and given them trouble. Red X. You gotta let me go talk to them!"

Her mother was about to tell her she couldn't leave, but then remembered that Diana was gone. She wouldn't be able to respond to this threat for a long time. And with how long it took to bring down Montezuma, and that another man knew where the island was, this would be a considerable risk to all of the Amazons.

With a long sigh, the queen knew she had no choice.

"Then, you go after him." Her mother said.

Donna stopped crying as the words hit her. She looked up at her mother with a confused look on her face.

"What?" Donna asked.

"Go!" Her mother ordered, "Go to Polybius and the Titans and get help."

"Really!?" Donna asked, sadness replaced by excitement.

"I'm afraid I don't have a choice." Her mother said, "You have the connections needed to bring him down. I want you to go straight to Polybius, tell him what happened, and come straight back here."

"Thank you!" Donna said.

"Now, don't assume this is going to be a permanent thing." her mother warned, "This is a one-time thing. Straight to him and back. And I'll be checking up on you too. Now go get your things and go!"

Donna nodded and didn't waste any time rushing to her room and quickly got changed into her Wonder Girl uniform and took off flying for Jump City. However, before leaving, she found her communicator and phone destroyed. The young Amazonian looked at the two of them and cursed Red X for breaking them. But she didn't have time to do anything about them as she needed to get to Polybius as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, back on Polybius's end, the mute found himself bogged down in Spain. He had been getting hit with villain after villain all day, lost his backpack full of tools, and had grown tired. That being said, he managed to hide away from them in Madrid with two allies and was resting up.

When he awoke, he headed up to the roof of the building he had been hiding out in and looked out at the land. His eyes began scanning for the next villain. However, as his eyes drifted upwards towards the sky, he saw something flying overhead. A person, but he couldn't make out who.

They stopped and looked down at him before flying towards him at high speed. The mute was quick to back up a little and took up a fighting stance as he watched them approach.

"Polybius!" The voice of Donna called out.

As the figure grew closer, Polybius lowered his guard to see that it was indeed Donna, in her Wonder Girl uniform flying towards him. She was quick to land on the building and approach him.

"You've gotta help me!" Donna started quickly "Red X came to the island and murdered one of my sisters!"

Polybius held up one finger to stop her. She did as he pulled out his notebook, which he hadn't used in a long time and wrote something down.

'We've got bigger problems right now. The Brotherhood of Evil is attacking Titans everywhere. I've lost touch with everyone and have no reason to believe that any of them are alive at this point in time. I know for a fact we've lost Robin, and I've been getting hammered with attacks from villains all day.' Polybius wrote.

Donna's eyes grew wide in shock as she read this. In her mind, it seemed that Red X had been sent by the Brotherhood of Evil to attack and kill her. And Zenobia had gotten in the way. That, on top of the Titans, were losing in all corners of the world.

The mute Titan snapped his fingers in her face before the severity of the situation could set in. He then wrote down some more information for her.

"What!?" Donna asked, "You just plan to bust into their secret lair and go on a rampage!?"

The mute nodded.

"That can't be a good idea!" Donna argued, "Isn't there a better plan?"

The mute shook his head.

"There has to be!" Donna argued, "Alright, I don't care that my mother told me I could only report to you and then had to go back! I'm sticking with you, but there has to be a better plan! What about taking them out one by one?"

The mute shook his head again.

"Then maybe we could get some help!" Donna said, "I know Wonder Woman can't help us right now, but the League certainly has to have a few heroes it can spare."

Polybius gave her a more annoyed look. Donna could tell by the look in his eyes that he was dead set on a plan. And that there was nothing she could say or do to convince him otherwise.

"Alright." Donna said, "Where are we going?"

'Pairs.' Polybius wrote down 'With a ride.'

"With a ride?" Donna asked.

Polybius lead Donna back into the building, where they found two young men sitting at a table with a map.

"Polybius!" One of them greeted, "I see you brought a friend."

The mute nodded as he showed them, Donna.

"Marc." The first teen greeted.

"Rayanus." The second followed up, "We're friends of Polybius."

"Donna." The girl replied hesitantly, "Nice to meet you."

The three males were quick to fill Donna in on the plans of attack. Which pretty much was to drive right into their secret lair and start blasting.

"You with us?" Marc asked.

"Of course!" Donna replied.

And with that, the four took off in a 2002 Toyota Tacoma that Rayanus owned. It didn't take long for the team to get from Madrid to Paris. Once there, the group drove right up to the secret lair. From there, Polybius and Donna got out to clear the path for the Tacoma.

"They call this the city of love, don't they?" Donna asked as the two got outside of earshot of Marc and Rayanus.

The mute nodded as he began to head for the entrance to the base. Donna quickly followed suit.

"So, how do you know they are here?" Donna asked.

Polybius used his hands to express that he forced somebody to tell him.

"I see." Donna said, understanding what he was trying to convey.

Once inside, Donna couldn't help but notice a change in Polybius. As soon as they entered the base, something inside him just snapped. He began with a fast pace, a power walk, and Donna began to struggle to keep up with him at his pace without running

To her, it had seemed some sort of switch was set off in his brain.

As they walked down the hallway, the duo ran into Doctor Light, who was smoking a cigarette in the hallway. He spotted the two rapidly approaching him and stood up.

"You again!" Doctor Light spat as the two approached, "Stop!"

Polybius ignored the order. He didn't even slow down as a tentacle sprang from his back and quickly shot itself towards the villain. Without even stopping, Polybius quickly wrapped his tentacle around Dr. Light's ankle and slammed him on the ground hard. Hard enough to knock him out.

Donna didn't stop either, and the two just passed by the unconscious Doctor Light. The Amazon didn't give it much thought as she knew Polybius was powerful. And it seemed that the pain that normally held him back wasn't even bothering him.

But it was.

Polybius was actually in severe pain. His reason for rushing through this was because his pain medication was wearing off. And without a timely way to get back to Titan's Tower to restock, his only hope for his own survival was to save the Titans before he sub came to the pain. And at this point, opening up his back to use his powers didn't affect him much.

Quickly making their way to the main room, Polybius had Donna bust a hole through the lower wall, and the two entered to find that many of the other Titans had already arrived and were squaring up for battle.

"Polybius!" Beast Boy shouted, "Good to see you!"

The mute gave a thumbs-up as he and Donna quickly took up a position by their fellow Titans.

"Titans! Together!" Beast Boy shouted.

And the battle commenced.

Charging out ahead of the main body, Polybius was first to make contact with the enemy. Quickly using his powers, Polybius was quick to begin sweeping aside any and every opponent that dared to stand against him. Smashing people left, right, up, down, and center.

"Why do I hear boss music?" Gizmo asked himself as lights began to appear from the hole Polybius and Donna had come through.

Then without any warning, the Tacoma, being driven by Rayanus, came bursting onto the battlefield. The windows were down, and Marc was sitting on the ledge. In his hand was an aluminum baseball bat. And the two were blasting Aerosmith's 'You gotta move.'

"Who's that!?" Starfire asked.

"Friends of Polybius." Donna replied.

The two drove in and quickly began mowing down villains. If Rayanus didn't hit them outright, then Marc got them with the bat. It was a dream team combo.

"Good thing they're here now." Starfire said as she and Donna watched them, "We can use all the help we can get."

As the battle dragged on, the pain that Polybius lived with on a daily basis began to grow far worse. And by the two-hour mark, Polybius found himself beginning to struggle to keep going.

However, he did have luck on his side as the tides began to turn as Mas and Menos began freezing defeated villains.

And as time continued to drag on, the number of villains on the battlefield dwindled until none were left. What had once been a mighty force was now reduced to nothing but people trapped and frozen in ice.

It wasn't long before the battlefield had been cleared of enemies, and everyone gathered to admire the defeated villains trapped in ice. However, there was one major person.

"Polybius?" Donna asked as she hurried next to him, "Do you see Red X up there?"

Polybius suddenly snapped back to reality and did a double-take of the shelf. Scanning them all, he quickly realized that there was indeed no Red X up there.

The mute shook his head.

"Red X?" Robin asked as he turned his attention to the two, "Why are you asking about him."

"He killed one of my sisters." Donna explained with a hint of sadness in her voice, "And tried to kill me."

"Well what are we all doing just standing around here!" Cyborg said, hearing what Donna said: "Let's head back to Jump City and turn it upside down!"

"I can't." Donna said, "I've gotta get back home. My mother told me I was only supposed to go and tell you guys what happened and then go straight back."

"Well don't you worry then." Robin said, "We're going to take him down!"

"Yeah!" Cyborg said, "And why don't you head back to the tower so we can get this communication system figured out."

Donna agreed, despite knowing there was a high chance her mother was watching her, and everyone headed back with the Titans to their tower for a brief amount of time. Meanwhile, in Jump City, Nathan sat on his bed and covered his face. He remembered everything that had just happened and how he killed that poor girl.

"Why did you make me do that?" He asked, "Why did you make me kill her?"

"Because we need to get Donna off that island." The voice replied, "And I would cancel all the plans you've got because she's coming to Jump City. And I think it would be a safe bet to think that if she saw you, she's gonna hammer you with a lot of questions. Questions you don't want to answer."

"Right." Nathan said as he picked up his phone and began canceling, "Don't want that happening."

**And there you have it! Chapte 33. I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	34. Chapter 34: Everybody Knows

_Chapter 34_

_Everybody Knows..._

Taking a seat on the couch, Donna felt out of place. Whenever she had come over before, it had always been just her. And usually, Polybius was almost always by her side. However, this time, it wasn't the case.

Upon returning to Jump City, Polybius and Robin almost immediately set to work tracking down Red X. And while Donna had offered to help, both of them had encouraged her to go relax, as well as get to know some of the other Titans.

Donna reluctantly agreed to their proposal and joined the rest of the Titans up in the main room. There, she met many new faces. Some she liked. Others not so much. Kid Flash, in particular, didn't give her a good first impression. She wasn't sure if it was natural for him, or if he was interested, but he tried flirting with her, and she did not like it.

Naturally, she had to shut him down as she wasn't interested in him.

As she sat on the couch, her eyes drifted to Polybius, who was standing up at the front of the room. Robin and Polybius had settled on a course of action that they would execute after all of the Titans returned to their homes.

Donna looked at Polybius as he stood with a glass of water in his hand, talking to Gnarrk, Kole, Aqualad, Marc, and Rayanus.

"You like him, don't you chica?" A voice next to her asked.

Donna looked over to see Pantha looking at Polybius as well.

"Maybe." Donna replied as her eyes drifted back to him.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Pantha asked, "Go talk to him."

"I have." Donna said, "He's my best friend, and I really do like him."

"And?" Pantha pressed.

"It's just, I'm not sure how I feel about him or how he feels about me." Donna stated.

"What are your doubts?" Pantha asked.

"Well, it's only recently that I realized I might have fallen for him." Donna explained, "I'm not sure if it's just a phase I'll get over, or if this is serious."

"You have known Polybius for a long time, yes?" Pantha asked.

"Yeah." Donna replied.

"Have you always felt this way about him?" Pantha followed up.

"Well, I haven't started questioning love until a few months ago." Donna explained, "But I have felt very close to him since I met him. I don't understand why, but when I'm around him, I feel different. Different in a good way."

"So, what makes you think it's not love?" Pantha asked.

"Maybe it's because growing up, I always heard that love outside of family cannot exist without sex. However, seeing as neither of us want that, I have doubts as to what I truly feel for him." Donna answered.

"That's not true." Pantha assured her, "If love only existed like that, then we would be nothing more than crazed sex animals."

"Then what is love?" Donna asked.

"Baby, don't hurt me." Another voice said, "Don't hurt me. No more!"

Looking to her other side, Donna saw that Bumblebee had joined her and Pantha on the couch. She quickly leaned back and then in on the two.

"So, who are we talkin about?" Bumblebee asked.

"Polybius." Pantha answered, "She's in love with him."

"Is she?" Bumblebee asked.

"A little." Donna admitted.

"A lot." Pantha corrected.

"Well, why don't you go talk to him!" Bumblebee said, "What's he gonna do? Say no? Please, girl, like he'd say no to you."

"You think so?" Donna asked.

"How could he?" Bumblebee asked, "You've got everything you need to get him."

"I know." Donna said, "I'm just worried that since he is so anti-relationship that he will say no."

"Then you gotta make him want you." Bumblebee replied.

"How do I do that?" Donna asked.

"Make him jealous." Bumblebees answered.

"Jealous?" Donna questioned.

"Think about it." Bumblebee said, "If you think he doesn't like you, then you gotta make him like you. Or at the very least, trick him into thinking he likes you."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Donna said, "Sounds like something that'll make him mad. Especially if he realizes what I did."

"I agree." Pantha added, "From what I have heard about him, he is not interested in dating at all."

"Alright, alright." Bumblebee conceded, "Then how about we just tempt him."

"Tempt?" Donna asked.

"Go slow." Bumblebee said, "At a snail's pace. You're already a good portion of the way there. However, you just have to slowly build him up. That way, when you are certain he has fallen for you, then you swoop in and take him!"

"That seems like a better idea." Pantha agreed.

"So, just lead a stubborn horse to water?" Donna asked.

"Exactly!" Bumblebee said.

Meanwhile, Polybius raised his glass with his fellow Titans in a toast. Once they clinked, he drew his water down and drank. After taking a big swig of water, his eyes drifted to Donna, who seemed to be smiling as she chatted with Pantha and Bumblebee.

"So, how are things going with her?" Marc asked.

The mute Titan looked over to his friend. He knew just by the look on his face that he was talking about Donna.

The mute raised his eyebrows at him.

"Yeah, man!" Rayanus pushed, "Are you gonna do something with her?"

The mute gave them a confused look.

"Gnarrk." The nethanderall said.

"Gnarrk said he is wondering if you're thinking about pursuing a relationship with her?" Kole translated.

The mute shook his head.

"Aw, come on." Aqualad said, "You two are perfect for each other."

The mute continued to shake his head.

"Dude, we all know you two are totally in love." Rayanus said.

Polybius silently dismissed the idea by waving a hand.

"Don't lie!" Marc countered, "We all see how you be around her."

"Yeah." Aqualad jumped in, "I really don't get why you haven't already."

"Cause he's so anti-relationship." Rayanus answered.

The mute rolled his eyes.

"Oh shit!" Marc said, "He's got dem Walmart eyes! Cause they be rollin back!"

The group laughed, even Polybius, who did so silently, at the roast.

"But in all seriousness." Marc said, "Why don't you want to date her?"

While under normal circumstances, this would cause Polybius to get extremely angry and upset, which he was, he pushed his emotions aside. There were too many people here that didn't know him all that well for him to go running off.

"Is it something about her?" Kole asked.

"No, it's not her." Marc answered, "Ever since we met this guy, and from my understanding, for as long as he's been a Titan, he's been very anti-romance, relationships, sex. Just about everything close to that."

"You mean everything related to that." Rayanus corrected.

"Gnarrk." Gnarrk said.

"He said that Polybius has to have his reasons." Kole translated, "We all have things we don't like. Gnarrk, for instance, does not like the outside world or technology all that much because of his experiences with it. And I'm sure Polybius has either experienced or seen something to make him that way."

Polybius was quick to give a thumbs up at the statement and nod his approval.

"Well, we can't let one isolated thing ruin it for him." Aqualad countered, "I've got a girlfriend, and I can't say I've ever been happier since we got together. And I really think that if you and Donna got together, then you would be happier."

The mute shook his head.

"Well, I suppose we can't force you to do things you don't want to do." Marc said.

"But that doesn't mean we can't lead him in that direction." Rayanus pointed out.

Polybius held up a hand and tried to signal him to stop but was ignored.

"You should at least give it a try." Aqualad said, "While nobody knows Wonder Girl better than you, I think if you at least give her a chance, then not only you but her as well, will be happier."

Polybius began to think about what his friends were saying. He started with his current friendship with Donna and how he felt towards her.

Polybius could not deny that he felt differently towards Donna than he did towards any of the other Titans. There was only one person he could think of in his life that he had felt that way towards. However, just thinking about that person sent shivers down his spine.

But then he remembered that it wasn't fair to judge Donna like that. And while Donna may be totally down for a romantic relationship, he began to question himself, and whether or not he could even do one.

Thinking about himself for a brief moment, Polybius wondered if he could even do one. He looked back on his life, leading up to the point of time he was in. Thinking back on all he had been through, he pondered the idea of love. And whether or not what he was feeling towards Donna was truly love, or a heat of the moment thing.

Knowing he had to keep his head clear to make the right decision about this, Polybius pushed the idea to the side. He would have to sit down and think about it later while listening to some Sabaton.

Towards the end of the day, Cyborg issued everyone new phones. Robin decided to scrap the T communicators altogether as they really served no purpose, especially with no texting abilities since two Titans were mute, Polybius, and, to a certain extent, at least, Jericho. This made them entirely redundant as the only thing the two of them could really do was either play charades or just set off the distress signal.

Therefore, everyone was issued a T phone that ran on the more secure network that the communicators once ran on. And of course, everybody had each other's contact information inside the phones already. That way there wouldn't be a long hassel about trading numbers and all that.

But before everyone left, Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Pantha, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Kole, Gnarrk, Marc and Rayanus created one massive group chat that was titled 'Hooking Polybius and Donna up.'

And when word began to spread about this little secret group they had formed, it soon became every Titan was a part of it except for Polybius and Donna. Everyone in the group decided to keep this a secret from the two of them so they wouldn't get mad.

When Donna got back to her home, her mother questioned her about what had taken so long. Donna just blew it off as she had trouble finding Polybius, and she thought she had found Red X and went after him. Her mother, much to Donna's surprise, accepted this as a valid excuse and let her off the hook.

Polybius, meanwhile, began seriously questioning his feelings for Donna. His heart ached as he thought about the idea of not liking her as a friend, but actually loving her. However, his mind held him back and told him he couldn't do it. He couldn't do a relationship.

For Polybius, it was out of character for him to go off of his heart. He always trusted his mind over his body to tell him what was and what wasn't. However, while a large part of his mind was telling him he couldn't do it, he could hear a small voice in the back telling him to do it. That was more than likely the voice of his heart, at least that was his line of thinking.

And of course, in the group chat, everybody talked about how they were both were totally in love with each other and how they both denied it. And while Donna seemed more open to the idea of getting involved in one, the real challenge was getting Polybius on board.

The most popular idea that floated around the chat was showing Polybius that couples were happy together. And that dating wasn't bad, as everyone assumed he thought it was. The only question they had to ask was how they planned on showing him.

This would go unanswered for two months until the original six would get called into action in Tokyo, Japan.

While Japan was fun for Polybius, he didn't really enjoy his time there. Many of the things he saw were unnerving to him. Anime, in particular, really got him worried after seeing some of it. However, after seeing it, he could understand why Beast Boy like it so much.

However, the trip to Japan wasn't really significant for Polybius at all. For him, it was just a small part of his story with the Titans. But for two others on the team, the trip was far more significant.

By the end of the trip, Robin and Starfire officially became a couple and were quick to go public about it. And Polybius saw a massive uproar online about how cute they were together and how happy most people were for them.

Following this, Polybius began to notice a change in the Titans as a whole. Everybody seemed to be more interested in romance as if hormones were taking control of everyone, at seemingly, the same time.

Donna noticed this, too, and being somewhat detached from Titans due to her limited availability. This caused both Polybius and Donna to grow worried about the direction the Titans were headed in. If emotion was going to drive them, or if logic was.

And with this rise, it made both of them more apprehensive about pursuing a relationship with the other.

In terms of the search for Red X, the criminal, much like Montezuma had long ago, vanished with no trace. Polybius had spearheaded the search, putting the Taliban on the back burner. The reason being is that the mute began to think that their attacks on him were more of a one-time thing, and not something to happen consistently. And that seemed to be the case as Polybius hadn't gotten attacked by them since.

Going back to Red X, Polybius grew worried that whatever magic that had possessed Montezuma had taken control of Red X as well. Especially with how the man was able to get to Paradies Island seemingly so effortlessly.

Regardless, Polybius's searches would get put on hold as the team endlessly battled evil, and new threats came and went. More visits to Tamaran and space. More global efforts. More recruiting. And a whole lot of paperwork Polybius hated.

It was no secret that Polybius wasn't a desk jockey and that he would much rather work a trade over a desk job. At least one that got him on his feet and moving around. Polybius hated being cooped up inside all day.

Despite him loving to be outside and exploring the world, and trying new things, the one thing everyone wanted him to do never happened. The reason being is he and Donna were never able to hang out like everyone wanted them to.

There were many reasons as to why this didn't happen. Time zone differences, Donna's mother, and Polybius's busy schedule were only some of the reasons as to why the two never got to see each other.

But that didn't mean they didn't keep in touch.

At least once a day, if not more, did the two text each other, and video chatted at least once a week. Even if it was just to say hi, or have a long conversation about whatever. Both of them made sure to take some time out of their day for each other at some point.

Despite this, the two made sure to keep their conversations private from the rest of the Titans. While neither were aware of the Titan's grand plan of hooking them up, both were aware that everyone thought they should.

On Donna's end, this made her nervous. On one hand, she was hearing her mother and sisters rant and rave about how terrible men and the outside world was. On the other hand, she had Polybius telling her to judge people based on who they were on an individual basis.

On Polybius's end, he accepted the fact that he felt different towards Donna than he did anyone else. That much was true, and he knew it. Whether or not it was love or something else he was feeling towards her, he hadn't decided.

But when he pushed her aside and looked at himself, the thing that was tearing him up about the whole situation was whether or not he could do it. He had a hard time seeing himself in a serious relationship, even with Donna.

As for the rest of the Titans, who all agreed to get them hooked up, frustration rose in the group chat with their lack of contact. While Starfire had peeked over Polybius's shoulder every now and then and saw that the two were texting, things weren't moving fast enough for anybody's liking.

And other people were overlooking this situation as well.

About six months after the massive battle and defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil, Darkbius sat next to Polybius, undetected by even the mute and watched as the mute had a more extensive text conversation with Donna.

"What do we do?" Hostbius asked, only being detected by Darkbius, "It looks like he's gonna hook up with her. And if that happens…"

"I'm working on it." Darkbius said, "But I think I know what we need to do."

"And that would be?" Hostbius asked.

"Polybius already has doubts about a relationship with her." Darkbius said, "He knows that he can't do one, but he seems to be heading in the direction that he thinks that he can. What we need to do is help reinforce the idea that he can't do one."

"And how do we do that?" Hostbius asked.

"Like this." Darkbius said.

'I'm so tired of being stuck here. I hate being cooped up on this island all day. I'd much rather be out and doing things. Or better yet, helping you with whatever you're doing.' Donna expressed over text.

'You don't want to do what I'm doing. Ever since Robin doubled down on our globalization efforts, we have been seeing a lot of paperwork come through on our end. Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, and I decided to split it up as evenly as possible to do as little of it as possible. I hate it because, like you, I'm not a desk jockey.' Polybius replied.

'Desk jockey? Is that what you call the people who sit at desks all day?' Donna asked.

'Yes.' Polybius replied.

'I couldn't imagine sitting at a desk all day for my job. That sounds dreadful.' Donna said.

"As dreadful as the idea of you two in a relationship." Darkbius said, seizing the moment.

Polybius looked over to see the darker version of himself sitting right next to him.

"Think about it." Darkbius said, "You! In a relationship! Ha! What a joke."

The mute shook his head.

"You don't believe me?" Darkbius asked, "You know how relationships go. Women love to build you up so they can tear you open and betray you. Donna will hurt you because she knows she's got you under her thumb. And you'll go crawling right back to her because you are stupid and weak!"

The mute closed his eyes as the words hit him like a freight train. He shook his head in denial of what he perceived to be somewhat truthful.

"You know it's truthful." Darkbius said, "But there is one person who would never betray you. Never do anything bad to you. Everything they did for you was to better you. And to think you left them?"

The mute turned his back towards Darkbius.

"Aw, don't throw a temper tantrum now." Darkbius teased, "You childish fucking moron. However, what I really want to know is, what can Donna do for you that they couldn't?"

'You still there, Polybius?' Donna texted him.

"They can do anything for you. Literally anything! Meanwhile, all Donna can do is set you up for getting hurt. You know exactly what happens when you let people get too close, and you have already gotten too close with Donna. You need to push her away."

The mute held onto his phone in his hand and looked at the text Donna had sent him while the words of Darkbius echoed in his mind.

"Do it!" Darkbius said, "Just put down the phone and never pick it up again. Go back, of your own free will of course, to them. And I promise you, while they will be mad at you for leaving, they will accept you with open arms!"

Polybius shook his head as he began texting Donna.

'Sorry about that. I just got caught up with something unimportant. Anyway, when do you think you'll get off the island again and pay me a visit?' Polybius texted.

Darkbius then willed himself to becoming undetectable by Polybius.

"Success." Darkbius said with a smile as he waited for Donna to respond.

"Success?" Hostbius asked, "How is that a win?"

"You'll see." Darkbius said, "You'll see..."

'I am going to try for next week unless I get called into action. Another religious ceremony that should give me a window to escape for a long while. I can't wait to see you!'

'I can't wait to see you as well.' Polybius replied.

**And there you have it! Chapter 34! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!**

**Also, sorry about the long delay. I am getting settled into a new location and don't have wifi on my computer yet, only my phone. Once I get wifi on my computer up and running again and am afforded the time to clean up some more chapters, uploads will return to a more normal rate.**


	35. Chapter 35: Mock Date

_Chapter 35_

_Mock Date..._

"Everything has gotta be perfect!" Robin said as he lit the candles, "If this doesn't go right, then who knows how long we'll have to wait for another opportunity like this!"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed as he worked with the lighting, "How's the food coming Cy?"

"Ready to go." Cyborg said, "Now let's just hope Raven and Starfire can get them in here."

Almost as soon as Polybius revealed that Donna was going to visit next week, the group chat went ballistic as to how best take advantage of this. Ultimately it was decided that a romantic dinner for just the two of them was the plan of action. Even though Polybius didn't eat around anybody else, it was all about the setting. The romantic setting had to be right.

Meanwhile, Polybius and Donna had finally met up after months of not seeing each other. While they had thrown around the idea of inviting the others, they decided against it. After Polybius had told the team that Donna was coming over, everybody was acting weird about it. Therefore, Polybius chose not to tell them what day she was coming.

However, they found out.

Both Starfire and Raven, the latter of which had grown more accepting and onboard with the plan over the months, had been watching him. And now that they followed Polybius out to the forest. From there, Raven used her powers to hide them from him.

Taking a seat under a tree, Polybius pulled out his phone and began texting.

'You almost here yet?' Polybius texted.

'Almost there.' Donna replied almost immediately.

Polybius then put down his phone and moved over to his backpack. He had been tormented by the words of Darkbius recently. Therefore, in an attempt to prove the darker version of himself wrong, he decided to rage against the evil and do something he had never done before.

Pulling out a small box, Polybius opened it up to reveal a pair of rather expensive earrings. They were in the shape of a star to match her uniform. The mute couldn't help but smile at the idea of giving them to Donna.

In buying these, Polybius wasn't really sure what he hoped to get out of it. However, he knew it was going to make Donna really happy.

Putting them back in his bag, he then looked up at the sky to see someone flying towards his location. He quickly stood up to see as they descended towards his position.

"Polybius!" Donna shouted as she approached him.

The mute waved as Donna touched the ground. She then quickly rushed over to him on foot and stopped just short of him.

"Hello!" Donna greeted with a smile on her face.

Polybius smiled back.

As the two greeted each other, Starfire and Raven watched closely as Raven called Robin on her phone.

"They are together." Raven said, "Donna is talking about something, we make out what she is saying, or how Polybius is responding."

"Then give them a little time before you lead them here. Let them go hang out somewhere, but don't let them eat." Robin said, "Or else Cyborg is gonna get upset over the wasted food."

"Got it." Raven replied.

The two female heroines followed Polybius and Donna as the two went on a stroll together towards and through. They weren't the only two watching as Darkbius and Hostbius observed the two as well. They were also paying close attention to the situation as it unfolded in front of them.

"Do you think one of them is gonna ask?" Hostbius asked.

"Today?" Darkbius questioned, "No. Not today. But this little ploy of the Titans should push Donna in the right direction. Polybius, I'm a bit uncertain about. He's been teetering back and forth of actually going forward with it. And honestly, I think if it happened today, it would come down to what side of the bed he woke up on."

"I see." Hostbius said.

"But remember what our job is." Darkbius said.

"I do." Hostbius said, "After all, I was sent to help you because you were being perceived as failing that."

"Yes, I know." Darkbius spat back, "Just follow my lead."

"Got it." Hostbius said before pointing at where Starfire and Raven were, "And what about those two?"

"Don't worry about them." Darkbius said, "Whatever they do, they'll play right into our plans.

As the two exited the park, Starfire and Raven decided to intercept them.

"Polybius! Donna!" Starfire shouted as she and Raven headed towards them.

The two looked over, a tad bit surprised to see their friends headed their way.

"Hello, friends!" Starfire greeted as the two landed in front of them, "Donna, how have you been. It feels as if an eternity has passed since I last saw you!"

"Yeah, it has been a while." Donna said, "How have you been?"

"Wonderful ever since I started dating Robin!" Starfire answered, "I did not know that dating was such a wonderful thing!"

"Well, I'm happy for you, Star." Donna replied with a smile on her face.

"What about you, Donna?" Raven followed up, "Thinking about dating anyone?"

The situation suddenly got really awkward for Polybius. Out of everyone, Raven was the last person he suspected to ask that kind of a question. This caught Polybius off guard as he could tell Donna too was also taken off guard by the question.

"Me?" Donna asked, "Oh, please, like my mother would ever allow that."

"She doesn't have to know about everything." Raven said, "So let's say you could without fear of repercussion, would you?"

"Maybe." Donna answered, "I've never dated anyone before, so I'm not sure how good I would be at it."

"Which is what makes dating wonderful!" Starfire said, "The other person doesn't have to ever dated anyone either! You two can just be together and do whatever you want!"

"That sounds fun and all, but I'm not so sure I'm all that interested." Donna replied.

"Then how about you go on a mock date to see what it is like!" Starfire proposed.

"Mock date?" Donna asked.

The mute gave a visible look of confusion as he pulled out a bottle of water and began to drink.

"Yes, a mock date!" Starfire said, "With Polybius!"

Polybius choked on his water as Donna nervously laughed at the idea.

"You can't be serious!" Donna said.

"She is very serious." Raven said, "Because Polybius too needs to get out of his anti-relationship mindset, he's stuck in and open up."

Polybius scowled at the goth girl.

"A mock date with Polybius?" Donna asked.

"That is what I have said!" Starfire stated, "Come friends! Let us go to the tower and not waste any time!"

Before either Polybius or Donna could protest, the two found themselves being dragged to the tower and up to the main room. Once there, the two were quickly sat down across from each other at the dining table, and the tone was immediately set.

"Uh…" Donna said as Starfire and Raven quickly exited the room and were replaced by the boys.

"Welcome to Titans Resturante." Beast Boy greeted in a poor French accent, "What can we do for you?"

"What?" Donna asked, confused as Polybius looked around the room.

Low lighting. Candles. Red rose petals. Hearts. Soft sexy jazz. And everything romantic.

Polybius wanted to hurl because it looked like the start of a porno in his mind.

"What would the fair and pretty maiden, and handsome young lad like to drink?" Cyborg asked, also making a horrible french accent attempt.

Polybius shook his head as Donna got a little red in the face.

"W- Water?" Donna questioned.

"Of course, my lady." Cyborg said, "And you good sir?"

Polybius just gave a thumbs up.

"I take it you want one as well?" Cyborg asked.

Another thumbs up form the mute.

"Coming right up." Cyborg said as he walked off.

"Please, take some time to look at the menu." Robin said, he as well doing a horrible french accent, "We will be back shortly with your beverages."

The three boys then walked off, leaving Polybius and Donna alone in the dining room.

Polybius looked up at Donna to see that she was considerably red in the face and trying to stifle a laugh. The mute couldn't help himself as he began to silently laugh, causing her to give in and laugh too.

"What the heck?" Donna asked, "What is this, nonsense!?"

The mute shook his head in humorous confusion.

As the two laughed, Raven walked down the hall with a smile on her face. She couldn't explain why, but oddly she was in a very good mood. Starfire was right behind her as they headed to the security room, where they would monitor the two.

However, on the way there, Raven suddenly got a sharp headache and had to stop and lean against the wall.

"Raven!?" Starfire said with worry in her voice, "Are you alright?"

Inside Raven's mind, there was a small battle going on.

"Take that creep!" The Green Raven shouted.

The green Raven quickly found herself in a cage she could not break out of.

"Get out of here!" Yellow Raven ordered, "You have no place here!"

"Oh, but I do." Darkbius said, turning his attention to the Yellow Raven, "And I am not leaving until it's done."

"You have been messing with this mind for far too long!" Yellow Raven spat back, "I will not let you disrupt this balance any longer."

"You are gonna do what we want." Darkbius countered, "Now, where is that purple, passionate one? As well as that pink bitch as well?"

"Like you're gonna find her!" Red Raven said, suddenly appearing, "Now die!"

Shooting red magic at the darker Polybius, everyone was shocked when Red Raven suddenly vanished as if she had never existed. What was even scarier is that Darkbius hadn't even moved to face her.

"Alright, then." Darkbius said, "Anybody else?"

No response.

"No?" Darkbius answered himself, "Alright then! Purple, get your ass here now!"

The purple Raven appeared in front of him.

"You're in charge so long as it's convenient for us." Darkbius said.

"You mean it's love makin time?" Purple Raven asked, "Well, I hope you got a bed because you are looking mighty fine."

"Yeah, shut up." Darkbius ordered, "You aren't hooking up with anybody. I need you to serve my plans. And that pink one is your second in command."

"No!" Yellow Raven shouted.

The Yellow Raven attempted to conjure a spell, however, before she could finish, she collapsed and grasped her chest.

"M- My he- hear- art- t!" Yellow Raven managed out.

"Your heart's not beating." Darkbius explained, "Now I'm gonna make this very clear for every single one of you bitches in here. You serve me! And you all are going to do as I say when I say. Got it?"

All of the Ravens silently agreed.

"Alright." Darkbius said, "And firstly, big Raven isn't to know about this. And if she finds out, I promise you, there are fates far worse than death, which all of you will quickly discover should you dare to defy us!"

Meanwhile, back in the main room, Polybius and Donna sat in a somewhat awkward silence as neither one of them knew how to handle the situation they had been thrusted into.

"So, uh…" Donna started, "What do we do?"

The mute shrugged his shoulders. He had no clue as to what had possessed his friends to do this.

"Well, then." Donna started, "What does Google say that we need to do on dates?"

Polybius couldn't help but think that that was a good idea. Pulling out his phone, he quickly went to Google and texted in 'how to date.'

The first result he came on was a wiki article. After skipping over the first few sections about finding the person, he came up with things to do. After skimming through it, he put his phone away and shook his head.

"Nothing good?" Donna asked.

The mute continued to shake his head.

"Go figures." Donna commented.

Another long silence ensued, engaging the Titans, who had started live-streaming the mock date to the group chat.

"They need to start talking!" Beast Boy said.

"Give them time." Robin assured them, "We did force them into that rather awkward situation."

"They aren't even trying." Cyborg commented, "Can they at least talk to each other.

"Are you certain you are okay, friend Raven?" Starfire asked as the two entered the room.

"I've never felt better!" Raven replied, "Let's get Donna and Polybius together!"

"That's the spirit!" Cyborg agreed.

Hostbius stood in the back of the room and watched the Titans, unable to be detected by them.

"Yes. Keep saying that." Hostbius said, "Keep pushing it. See what happens. I dare you, I double dare you."

Meanwhile, back on Polybius and Donna's end, the two were looking at their phones, desperately searching for an answer to their situation.

"You just want to bail?" Donna asked, "And go somewhere else?"

The mute quickly stood up and nodded his head. The two attempted to make a hasty exit but were stopped by the locked door.

"You're kidding me?" Donna asked.

Polybius then motioned for her to punch down the door, but she shook her head.

"No." Donna said, "I'm not gonna destroy the tower."

Polybius pointed at the door and tried to express that he only wanted the door knocked down.

"No." Donna said "I-"

Donna cut herself off as her eyes set on a camera behind Polybius, rather well hidden in the dark corner of the room.

"Hold up." Donna said.

Walking over to the camera, the mute in toe, they looked at it and saw that it was on and live streaming.

"Oh, no way!" Donna said, anger prevalent in her voice as Polybius looked at the camera.

"That's not good." Beast Boy said on the Titan's end.

The mute took the camera from Wonder Girl and looked directly into the screen. After flashing a small smile, he quickly raised it up over his head and smashed it on the ground.

"No!" Cyborg said as the feed cut off, "That wasn't cheap!"

The five Titan quickly rushed to the main room to find that the two had fled.

"That's not good." Raven said, looking at the hole in the wall.

"So much for not destroying the tower." Beast Boy commented.

It wasn't long after fleeing the tower that Polybius and Donna touched ground in the same spot they had met up in earlier that day. There was a tense and thick awkwardness in the air between them.

"Why would they do that?" Donna asked Polybius, "Do they really want us to hook up that bad?"

The mute didn't respond.

"Just to fuel their own sick fantasies!" Donna said, anger rising in her voice, "Ugh! I hate it when people prove my mother right!"

Polybius moved to try and calm her down, but she brushed him off.

"Why can't we just hang out and not have people say 'Those two should get together and fuck!'" Donna stated quite angrily, "Either that or want one of us to hook up with them! I hate it!"

Pulling out his phone, Polybius texted Donna something.

'I don't understand what possessed our friends to do that. They have never done that before and are normally quite better than that.' Polybius texted.

"You won't lie to me, right, Polybius?" Donna asked.

The mute nodded.

"Then answer me this." Donna said, "Is my mother right about everything. And you are the exception, not the standard?"

Polybius was prepared to answer this question. He pulled out his phone and texted an answer.

'I can't help but think that I may be the exception. I think I know why I am the way I am, but that isn't important. What is important is that we both need to be careful and more cautious of people in general.' Polybius texted.

"I hate it." Donna said again, "While I was impressed with your world before, now I can barely stand it."

'This isn't my world. I just live here. My world is up north in Alaska. It was super isolated where I grew up.' Polybius texted.

"Then maybe we should go there." Donna offered.

Polybius immediately shook his head.

"Why not?" Donna asked.

'Too cold.' Polybius texted.

"Fair enough." Donna said, dropping it.

After a moment of silence, Donna let out an angry sigh.

"Well, this visit has been almost completely ruined." Donna commented as she turned away from Polybius "All I wanted to do was come and spend some time with you because I haven't seen you in a long time, and I come to realize that everyone else has lost their freaking minds."

Deciding that this was an excellent time to try and cheer her up, Polybius pulled out his little present for her.

Snapping his fingers, Donna quickly turned around and saw the box in his hand.

"What's that?" Donna asked.

Offering her the box, she took it from him and opened it up.

Opening the box, her face lit up with happiness and joy as she saw what was in the box.

"Polybius!" Donna said, taking hold of the earrings in her hands, "By the gods, they're gorgeous!?"

Polybius smiled as he helped her put them in.

The stars that Polybius had gotten for Donna matched the ones on her uniform perfectly.

"Where did you get these!?" Donna demanded.

'I made them.' Polybius texted back.

"You made these!?" Donna said in shock.

The mute smiled and nodded as he stood back and looked at her wearing them.

"How do they look!?" Donna asked.

Polybius's smile grew as he took a picture.

"Let me see!" Donna said.

Showing her the picture of her wearing the gift, she smiled as she loved how they looked on her with her uniform.

"They're perfect!" Donna said, "Thank you so much! I love them! And I hate that I can't wear them home."

Taking them out, Donna tucked them away in her uniform, making sure to tightly secure them so nothing would happen to them.

"Now, I wish I could stay longer." Donna said.

The mute's happy expression quickly turned to one of disappointment. He hated it when she had to leave.

"Oh, don't worry, Polybius!" Donna said, "I'll be back again. This time, it won't be six months because I am going to become more ambitious with my sneaking off. And I won't do anything stupid to get me caught."

Polybius looked up with a small smile on his face. That was good news.

"I'll text you when I get home like always." Donna said, "Bye."

The two then did their long goodbyes as Donna slowly flew away, and Polybius stood on the ground and watched her fly off, waving the whole time until she was out of sight.

Meanwhile, in the 4 and 9/8ths dimension, an imp was watching over the situation. He couldn't help but agree with the Titans and thought that the two of them should hook up as well.

"But how can I help?" The imp questioned.

**And there you have it! Chapter 35 done! I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	36. Chapter 36: The Question

_Chapter 36_

_The Question..._

Keeping his distance, Polybius grew wearier and wearier of the Titans with each passing day. What Polybius had expected to hear when he got back to the tower was an apology. Not being slammed at for encouraging Donna to punch a hole in the wall.

This reaction put the mute on guard and high alert. And when he reached out to Donna about it, she too was just as shocked to learn about this. This made her nervous about even setting foot off the island and going to anyone else aside from Polybius.

Naturally, Polybius encouraged her to continue her hero work, which she did. But she actively avoided talking to other Titans after both of their phones got blown up with angry messages for the others.

To the two of them, it seemed that the people they once called friends were turning on them. All because neither one was interested in dating. This subsequently led the two of them to count on each other more and more for support as they stopped receiving it from the rest of the Titans.

This series of events set Polybius on edge. The feeling of betrayal had set in for him. Just when he had thought that the rift from Beast Boy's prank had finally healed, it was now once again showing itself.

And of course, Darkbius and Hostbius also had things to say about it to Polybius. The two made sure Polybius knew that he was almost totally abandoned. And that there was only one person who would never betray him. And that he needed to go back.

However, so long as he had Donna, this would never happen.

That being said, however, Polybius still found himself in a precarious situation. He began looking at his options for the future and tried to figure out where he wanted to go from this point in his life.

Thinking back to Wonder Woman's offer, he pondered the idea of leaving the Titans for the Justice League like Speedy had fairly recently. And while he did talk to Wonder Woman about it, she explained that this wasn't a good time to do that because of some serious changes coming to the League. Many of which, she didn't like, but was outvoted on. However, she said that closer towards the end of the year would be a better time for him, but he was still welcomed whenever he wanted.

Polybius's issues with the Justice League is he was surrendering a lot of his freedom. He had always been an advocate of 'hero's autonomy.' This was the idea that heroes should be able to operate within a highly decentralized system. And the changes happening to the Justice League were going in the exact opposite direction of what he wanted.

Moving onto his next idea, he thought about going solo and living a life closer to one he had known before joining the Titans. Not necessarily going towards Alaska, but possibly heading towards Greece or Turkey so he could be closer to Donna was a nice idea.

But this too had a lot of problems. The first and foremost is that Polybius didn't have any documentation. Despite being born in America, he didn't have a birth certificate, social security number, or anything like that. This made personal travel quite hard. And the only reason he was allowed to stay in America in the first place was because of his volunteer work, same as Starfire.

Therefore, trying to move to a new country was going to be a monstrously difficult task. And even leaving the Titans a problematic task.

The final option for Polybius was to just go off the grid entirely. He was aware of heroes working solely from the shadows and hiding away from the world. And while the idea most greatly suited Polybius, he still had issues with it.

The most glaring problem with it was trying to keep in touch with Donna. Obviously, if Polybius didn't want to be found, he would have to leave his phone behind. And even if he got a new one, Donna wouldn't get one, and all the texting to two did, this would lead the Titans to him. And at the present moment in time, Polybius was alright with not seeing the Titans for a long while.

This left Polybius stuck at the tower for the time being. That being said, the mute always took the chance to get out and away from the Titans. He couldn't stand them at that moment in time. Them being so obsessed over him hooking up with Donna greatly concerned them. However, as far as he could tell, there was not an external force forcing them to think that way.

Meanwhile, on Donna's end, every time she picked up her phone, she had text messages from the Titans. All saying the same things. How she should hook up with Polybius.

It had gotten to the point where Donna only picked up her phone when she texted Polybius or needed something substantial. Otherwise, her phone stayed hidden all day.

Two weeks after the mock date, Donna was sitting on the steps of the grand temple when a surprise visitor came into view.

"Diana!" Donna said happily as she shot up.

"Hello, little sister!" Diana greeted as Donna rapidly approached her "I hear you've been having some fun?"

"Yes!" Donna said.

"Well, then why don't we go talk about it." Diana offered.

"Right now?" Donna questioned.

"Why not?" Diana asked, "You don't seem to be doing anything else. Come, I'm sure we have much to talk about."

"Yeah, sure!" Donna said, "I've been dying for someone to talk to."

That was true. In Donna's mind, her older sister was the only person she could comfortably talk to about this whole situation. She was on the outside, and while she was friends with Polybius, Donna felt that she wouldn't lie to her.

Once out of earshot of any of the other Amazons, the two sat down and began talking.

"So, I know you've visited Polybius." Diana started, "How is he? I've been meaning to visit him, but haven't gotten around to it due to just being too busy."

"He's been great!" Donna said, "He seems happy. Well, until recently."

"Oh?" Diana asked.

"It's a long story." Donna said.

"Well, we have all day." Diana assured her, "Take all the time you need."

"Alright." Donna replied.

The younger female would go on to explain all the events starting from her visit to Athens, where she found the terrorist group with the hit list. All the way to the mock date, the Titans forced her to go on with Polybius.

"A mock date?" Diana asked.

"Yes!" Donna assured her, "It is one of the strangest, most awkward things I have ever been forced through. We just sat there with no idea what to do."

"That doesn't sound fun." Diana said.

"It wasn't." Donna replied, "I don't get it. I don't understand why all my friends are acting this way. Why does everybody want me to start dating Polybius?"

"I can't answer that." Diana said, "However, what I do want to know is how do you feel?"

"What?" Donna questioned.

"From what you told me, it sounds like you feel differently towards Polybius than you do the other Titans." Diana pointed out.

"And?" Donna asked.

"Do you love him?" Diana asked.

Donna went silent as she looked away from her older sister. She let out a long sigh as she pondered the question. And after thinking about it, she had an answer.

"Yes." Donna answered, "I do love him."

"Then why haven't you asked?" Diana questioned.

"Well… It's because he is so anti-relationship. He doesn't want anything to do with it, and I'm afraid that he doesn't love me back." Donna explained.

"Doesn't love you back?" Diana questioned.

"Yeah." Donna said, "Because he can't talk, all I have to go off of is his body language and texts. And they don't tell me much about how he feels about me."

"I see." Diana said, "Well then, I guess the best thing you can do is ask him."

"Ask!?" Donna said, somewhat scared by the idea.

"Of course!" Diana said, "If you put him on the spot, then he'll have to confirm or deny whether or not he loves you."

"And what if he says no?" Donna asked.

"He won't." Diana answered confidently.

"But what if he does?" Donna asked.

"Just trust me, little sister." Diana said, "He won't. I'm quite sure he loves you as well."

Meanwhile, on Polybius's end, the mute Titan sat at his computer desk. He had both hands on his head and was clearly stressed out. And that was because he had both Darkbius and Hostbius standing over his shoulders. And they were talking to him.

"You love her, that much is obvious." Hostbius started, "However, the idea of you, doing a relationship, is about as believable as the Roman Empire coming back before tomorrow."

"And that is because you can't do one!" Darkbius said, "Say, did you know that more than fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. And most of them, the women run off with everything leaving the man with nothing!"

"Or how about that child support." Hostbius said, "Oh, wait! We don't have to worry about that since dickless here could never satisfy her needs."

"Then again, like you could even bring yourself to do that anyway." Darkbius followed up.

Polybius had enough. He forced himself to stand up and hastily walk away. The two followed him all the way to the main room where the TV was on, but nobody was watching. The mute made his way over to the couch. However, he didn't see the remote. He looked at the TV, hoping it would drown Darkbius and Hostbius out.

"In today's news, we have a representative from the Women's Empowerment movement, who is here to talk about a very serious topic, sexual assault." The news lady started, "However, we aren't talking about men on women or men on men crimes, but rather we are talking about the rising number of women on men crimes."

As Polybius watched and listened, he felt his heart sink as the Women's Empowerment representative talked. But there was one line that hit him harder than any other string of words he had ever heard before in his life.

"Men can't be raped by women." The woman stated.

"You see Polybius." Darkbius said, "That didn't happen to you. You wanted it, like the dirty animal you are. That's why you should go back because she loved you. She cared for you. She gave you everything, and you left her. Because you thought things could get better for yourself? How selfish, you worthless piece of shit."

Polybius shook his head as Darkbius and Hostbius began to laugh. Their voices filled his head as he covered his ears in a desperate attempt to drown them out.

"But all of that is okay." Darkbius said, "I promise you, if you go back to her, she'll forgive you. There might be punishment involved, but she'll take you back with open arms."

Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna stood nervously in front of her older sister. Diana had encouraged her to practice asking before she actually did. That way, Donna would be able to come off more confident than scared and nervous.

"Go ahead." Diana said, "Pretend I'm Polybius. Ask me out on a date."

"I don't know about this." Donna said.

"Look, I know in man's world, it's usually the man who takes the initiative and asks the girl, but times are changing. And if Polybius is as anti-relationship as you think he is, then the odds of him asking you are slim to none. You've gotta take the initiative if you want him." Diana explained, "Besides, I'm sure Poybius will like a girl who is both strong and highly confident."

"Alright." Donna said.

The younger girl took a deep breath and looked at her older sister in the eye and began.

"Hey Polybius." Donna started somewhat nervously "Do you maybe want to go on a date with me?"

"That was good." Diana said, "But you gotta be more confident. Throw out the maybe and ask!"

"Okay." Donna said, more confident, "Do you want to go on a date with me?"

"Better!" Diana said, "Again!"

"Do you want to go on a date with me?" Donna repeated, even more confident.

"Again!" Diana encouraged.

"Do you want to go on a date with me?" Donna repeated, being as confident as she could be.

"You've got this." Diana said, "Next time you see him, just go and ask him."

"You sure he'll say yes?" Donna asked.

"Sister, he'd be insane to deny you." Diana assured her.

Meanwhile, back in Jump City, Nathan was sitting in his room looking out his window. It had been a couple days since he last heard the voice and he was scared. The teen had heard it almost daily since the voice had first started talking to them. It had been more than three since he had last heard it.

Pushing the voice aside, the teen felt guilt-stricken ever since he murdered that Amazonian girl, Zenobia. He hated that he had to kill her and realized that he didn't want to kill people. Even if it was Polybius or a close friend of his, he didn't want to. He just wanted to go back to a normal life. Go to college like he had wanted to and major in chemistry.

However, Nathan had enough of this bullying he had been put through. His mother had been killed and restored dozens of times. Each time she came back completely oblivious to anything being wrong. Or that she had even died in the first place.

Therefore, he resolved to do the only thing he could think of doing. With the lack of the voice, Nathan began to believe he wasn't being watched. This would allow him to finally kill himself and end his miserable existence.

Pulling out a vile of poison he had bought off the black market, the teen held it up in the light and looked at it. It had a skull and crossbones on it.

"This is it." Nathan said as he opened up the vile.

Not even hesitating, the teen put the vile up to his lips. However, instead of feeling a liquid running into his mouth, he felt nothing.

Confused, the teen pulled back the vile to see that all of its contents were gone. He then realized that he wasn't alone.

"Nathan, my boy!" The voice said, "You thought about leaving with work that still needs to be done?"

Nathan felt his heart stop. He held his hands to his head as he began to feel a migraine set it.

"You fool!" The voice said, "You think that just because I'm not talking to you, giving you a small break, means that you are free to go?"

"Agh!" Nathan shouted as he hit the floor.

"You are so freaking stupid." The voice said, "That's what I like about you. But don't worry, Nathan, I'm almost done with you. One, or maybe two more things depending on what I decide to do afterwards. But anyway, once I'm done with you, I shall let you go and have fun doing whatever it is you want to do with your miserable life."

Meanwhile, back in Titans Tower, Polybius sat alone in his room. However, this was ended by a knock at the door.

Answering it, Polybius found Starfire and Robin standing on the other side with a smile on her face.

"Hello friend Polybius!" Starfire greeted, in her usual happy tone, "How are you on this glorious day?"

The mute gave an apprehensive thumbs up.

"Good to hear!" Robin said, "Mind if we come in?"

The mute, again, apprehensively let the two into his dwelling. He took a seat on the end of his bed while the two stood in front of him.

"So, Polybius." Starfire started, "Robin and I are wondering, why are you so anti-relationship?"

Polybius wasn't taken off guard by this question, but it was one he didn't want to discuss. Especially with his friends. Not after his journey to this point in his life.

"Look, I know that there are bad people out there." Robin started, "People who want to hurt and use you, but I promise Donna is not gonna do that to you."

The mute didn't understand why everyone was so obsessed with him hooking up with Donna. What was it about the idea of the two of them dating that was getting everybody so excited?

"Yes!" Starfire concurred, "Donna is a very charming and nice girl. I think it would be a good idea for the two of you to start the ship of relation."

Polybius shrugged his shoulders, hoping the two of them would explain why, or, better yet, leave.

"Come on, Polybius!" Robin pressed, "You two are perfect for each other!"

Polybius then motioned for the masked leader to go on.

"Well, for starters, you two are very similar." The voice of Cyborg said.

Looking at his door, Polybius saw Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven entering his room.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said, "You both like the outdoors, fight for the same reasons, and you complement each other very well!"

Polybius was taken a bit off guard by the arrival of the other three. He grew a little nervous as to what this meant and why they were here. And he didn't make an effort to hide his feelings either.

"Look, Polybius." Robin said, "We aren't going to press you as to why you are the way you are. But we just want you and Donna to be happy."

Polybius's nerves began to relax as he heard these words.

"And as of lately, it seems that you are only happy when you're with her." Raven added.

"We just want what's best for you." Cyborg went on.

"Which is why we want you to give Donna a chance." Beast Boy added.

"And we are confident that if you asked her that she wouldn't deny you." Starfire agreed.

Polybius thought about what they were saying. Maybe he should give Donna a chance. Maybe things would be different with her.

"Only to set yourself up to get hurt." The voice of Darkbius said.

Polybius looked over at his window to see Darkbius standing there. It was clear to the mute that none of the other Titans were unable to detect his presence. The darker version of himself was looking right at the mute.

"Face it, Polybius! They are lying to you!" Darkbius stated, "They want to see you get hurt, and you know this to be true. Remember Beast Boy's little prank. And how long it took them to apologize to you?"

The mute looked down at the ground as he remembered the gap in time between the prank and apology.

"Please don't feel conflicted about this!" Starfire said.

How could he not? In one ear, he had the Titans telling him to pursue a relationship with Donna. And in the other, he had the very familiar and surprisingly trustworthy voices of Darkbius and Hostbius telling him not to. That he was setting himself up to get hurt.

The mute began to shake his head.

"Please!" Starfire begged.

"No." Darkbius followed up in a tone, mocking the alien princess's.

"Yeah, come on, Polybius!" Cyborg encouraged.

"Don't do it!" Hostbius said, appearing next to Darkbius, also unable to be detected by the Titans.

The next thing the mute knew, the room quickly became filled with the voices of the Titans, begging him to consider the idea of a relationship and the voices of his two counterparts ordering him not to.

Polybius covered his ears in an attempt to drown out all the voices and began shaking his head. When this didn't work, he quickly bolted up and ran out of his room, leaving everyone in the dust.

"Why did he do that?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Did we push him too hard?" Cyborg asked.

"No." Robin said, "But I think we might need to lay off of him."

"But-" Starfire started before getting cut off by Raven.

"Robin's right." Raven said "Maybe pursuing a relationship might be too much for him. I'm sure he has good reasons as to why he is the way he is."

Polybius made his way outside to the top of the roof of Titans Tower. Once up there, he took his hands off of his ears and looked out at the setting sun. He slowed his approach as he moved towards the edge.

Polybius stopped and took in the complete silence. Finally, for the first time in a while, he was alone and could hear himself think. And not hear anybody talk about him pursuing a relationship with Donna. He could finally get his thoughts in order.

But he wouldn't be afforded that time to do so.

"Polybius!" He heard the voice of Donna call out from behind him.

Spinning around, he saw the young heroine flying towards him and landing on the tower. While he was happy to see her, he was also alright with not seeing her at this exact moment in time.

As the two approached each other, the Titans, as well as Darkbius and Hostbius, came up to the roof.

Donna approached Polybius with her head held high and full of confidence. She had a smile on her face because her sister had convinced her that Polybius was not going to reject her.

"Hi Polybius!" Donna greeted.

The mute smiled as he always did, and had no clue as to what was about to happen.

"Polybius!" Donna said, "I have an important question for you!"

Polybius was all ears as Donna suddenly felt her confidence vanish. While she did her best to hide it, everybody was able to pick up on it. As her nerves began to tense up, she took a deep breath to calm them down and look Polybius right in the eye.

"Polybius." Donna started, nervousness evident in her voice, betraying her attempt at confidence "Would you like to go on a date with me?"

**Oh snap! What will Polybius say? What do you think'll he'll say, or should say? Let me know as I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a lovely rest of your day!**


	37. Chapter 37: He Said

_Chapter 37_

_He Said..._

With no hesitation nor delay, the mute shook his head.

The world seemed to stop moving at that moment in time. Shock overcame Donna and all of the Titans. Her jaw dropped, and she felt her heart shatter to a billion pieces.

"N- No?" Donna managed out as tears began to form in her eyes.

The mute shook his head again.

Donna couldn't hold back her tears. Almost immediately after the confirmation, she began to sob, rather loudly. The young girl covered her face and ran away from Polybius. The mute stood by and watched as she took off and flew away.

"Donna!" Starfire shouted as she and Raven chased after her.

As they flew away from the mute, he was left standing with Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy.

"Really!?" Beast Boy asked as he put his phone away.

"Why would you say no!?" Cyborg demanded.

"How could you reject her, Polybius!?" Robin followed up.

Polybius was taken entirely off guard by his friend's hostility towards him. He would have expected support. Not for them to turn against him.

As the three male Titans began to degrade Polybius for his choice to reject Donna, the Starfire and Raven followed Donna out to the forest where Donna landed and continued to sob. The two quickly moved to comfort her as she cried.

"It's okay, friend Donna." Starfire said.

"How could he say no!?" Donna demanded, "What is it about me he doesn't like!?"

"Forget about him." Raven said, "He's just an idiot for rejecting you."

"But why!?" Donna asked.

"We do not know." Starfire said, "We tried to guide him towards pursuing a relationship with you."

"Don't worry about it too much, Donna." Raven said, "There are plenty of fish in the sea. You've got everything you need to reel in another one just like him!"

"But they won't be him." Donna said, "I love him!"

Meanwhile, back at Titans tower, Darkbius and Hostbius sat on the couch in the main room and smiled.

"Yes!" Darkbius said happily, "We've almost done it!"

"Hell yeah!" Hostbius agreed.

"Now all we gotta do is make sure he feels like shit." Darkbius said, "And he'll finally do what we've wanted him to do this whole time!"

Later that day, Polybius sat in his room in total shock of the situation. He was on his laptop browsing the internet, going to the official Titans pages when his eyes laid on a horror worse than anything he could have imagined.

Beast Boy had live-streamed the rejection. And it was everywhere on the internet, and everyone was talking about it.

Scrolling through the comments, Polybius saw nothing but hate. Hate towards him. From angry people to death threats, it was all there. Things were so bad that even major media outlets were also covering the story.

Polybius forced himself to close his laptop and leaned back in his chair in shock. Even his closest friends, Marc and Rayanus, had abandoned him in his time of need.

"The whole world hates you now." Darkbius said, "All because you said 'no' once again in your life."

The words began to echo in Polybius's mind as his darker counterpart spoke.

"I told you this would happen. Didn't I?" Darkbius asked, "Another woman has ruined your life."

"But, that's okay." Hostbius followed up, "There is one person on this Earth that would never leave or reject you."

"Go to her, Polybius." Darkbius ordered, "You've no longer got anyone besides her."

At that moment, Polybius heard his phone go off. Picking it up, he saw it was a text form Wonder Woman. She was clearly pissed off with him, and Polybius couldn't bring himself to respond.

"Face it, Polybius." Darkbius said, "The world has turned against you. You got up and fought for these people every day, who all have now abandoned you. Why? Because you did one small thing, they didn't like."

Looking up at the ceiling, Polybius let the words of his darker counterparts speak to him. And as he sat there and listened, back on Donna's end, it had taken her hours to finally stop crying over the rejection. She had requested to be left alone, which Starfire and Raven agreed to give her space, but she hadn't gone home to Paradise Island yet.

Donna couldn't stand to look at her phone. Her background was a picture of her and Polybius. She didn't want to see him. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't even want to think about him.

The poor girl couldn't make any sense of it. How was she rejected by him? Everybody had told her that he would say yes and that she had everything she needed to get him. What did she have that she didn't use?

It didn't make sense to Donna as more tears rolled down her face. She had also taken off her earrings Polybius had given her and held them in her hand.

She couldn't bring herself to get rid of them. Instead, she found herself holding them close to her chest near her heart.

Donna knew that, despite this rejection, she still loved him. But what she wanted to know is why he didn't love her? What was it about her that made him say no?

Looking at herself in a mirror, Donna began to wonder if it was her physical appearance. Was she getting fat? Maybe it was something about her face? Or perhaps her butt or tits was too big or small.

Donna pushed those thoughts to the side. She knew Polybius didn't care about that stuff. It was something about her personality that he didn't like. It was something about the way she acted and carried herself that Polybius must not like about her.

The next Question in Donna's mind was, what was it about her that he didn't like? Was she too clingy? To dependant? Was she trying to be more like him too much? Was she too kind?

As Donna pondered what it could have been about herself that made Polybius reject her, back in Jump City, Nathan had played the rejection video on repeat multiple times.

"Son of a bitch." Nathan said, "He actually did it. I can't believe he actually did it."

Nathan shook his head again.

"Gotta post that shit on fucking r/madlads." Nathan followed up.

Meanwhile, back in Titans Tower, Polybius had practically locked himself in his room. Despite Starfire having decided to come and shout at him through the door for the past hour, he drowned her out with some music.

Taking off his hat and putting on headphones, for once Polybius was finally able to drown out the world and have thirty seconds of peace to himself.

However, his music choice was not improving his mood.

It was no secret that Polybius was a huge fan of Heavy Metal of all types. Most notably, Sabaton being his favorite. And while most of the music lifted his spirit, this particular set of songs didn't.

While Polybius typically left his entire playlist on shuffle and listened to whatever came on, Hostbius had gone in and lined up the sad songs and removed all of the others. That way, all the music was doing was bringing Polybius's mood down even further.

The current song that was playing was Sum 41's Pieces.

Polybius had tried to be perfect. He tried to do something better with his life, but it just wasn't worth it. Not if this was how he was treated for making a choice. While Polybius enjoyed fighting, he could no longer justify doing it for this world.

And the way Polybius saw it, he had two options going forward from this point.

The first option Polybius was heavily considering was suicide. He had the capabilities and motive to do so and knew what he needed to do to make sure it happened. All he needed to do was just execute.

His other option was to do what Darkbius and Hostbius had been advocating for years and go back. However, Polybius remembered that he said he would never go back unless he thought things there were better than they were here.

And at this moment in time, it really seemed that things back there were better with her.

That being said, Polybius still had issues with going back.

Therefore, the mute decided on suicide. That seemed to be the best option for him.

Digging into his bag, Polybius pulled out one thing he had kept hidden away for years. He held onto it, and while it hadn't seen maintenance for years, the mute was confident he could get one shot off in it.

In his hand, Polybius held a 50 caliber handgun. If pressed against his head, the armor-piercing round was more than enough to kill the mute Titan. And with it being a point-blank range, Polybius knew it would do the trick.

"Now hold up." Darkbius said once he saw Polybius pull out the gun.

The words fell on deaf ears as the same song continued to blast in Polybius's ears. Holding the weapon in his hand, the mute knew what was about to happen. What he was about to do.

For him, it didn't seem like anyone was going to be sad if he died. The whole world hated him at that point in time, and why would anybody take pity on him? Why should anybody take pity on him? He was a monster, after all.

Taking a seat in his chair, the mute took one last look outside his window. He held the weapon firmly in his hand as he began to draw what he presumed to be his final breaths. He held the gun against his head and closed his eyes.

"That I'm better off on my own…" The song ended.

Polybius pulled the trigger of the weapon.

But nothing happened.

Opening his eyes, Polybius looked at the weapon and could see nothing visibly wrong with it. He tried everything he could to fix it, but nothing worked.

Throwing the gun aside, Polybius grew frustrated. He wanted nothing more than to end his life at that moment. There was no way he could go back.

Or could he?

The mute, unable to properly kill himself, began to ponder the other option of going back. Not necessary all the way, but within a certain distance. Perhaps he could stay a shorter distance away.

Polybius shook his head. He knew that sooner or later if he didn't kill himself, he would get dragged back there. And moving closer was just too risky.

However, the idea of once again, at least knowing he wasn't hated by everyone on the planet. That was a comforting thought for him.

Torn up about it, Polybius looked out his window and did a lot of thinking about what he should do going forward.

Meanwhile, back on Donna's end, the girl had yet to leave Jump City. In fact, she had actually gone back in and was just wandering around. She was still grief-stricken over the event, and people avoided her, giving her her space.

As she walked down the street, she decided to get some food and stopped in a diner. She wasn't all that hungry but forced herself to eat something. She knew she needed to put at least a little something in her stomach as she was exhausted from all of the crying she had done.

Looking up at the TV, she saw that the news was covering the rejection. She couldn't help but notice the outpour of hate towards Polybius.

Donna couldn't help but agree with the people hating on Polybius. She hated that he rejected her. And she didn't ever want to see him again.

Little did she know, Polybius was working on plans to make sure that would happen.

After borrowing the T-car from Cyborg, the mute Titan went shopping at Walmart and Home Depot, Polybius bought a rather strange array of items, and carried around in his recently emptied backpack. The mute had remembered seeing something while out on a mission once, and it had given him the inspiration to see if he could recreate it for himself.

Driving around in the T-car, Polybius parked on the side of the road and began getting to work.

Back at Titans Tower, the five heroes were sitting around their dining table discussing what had happened.

"I can't believe he rejected her!" Beast Boy said angrily, "And how she cried afterward. That was freaking heartbreaking!"

"That was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen." Starfire commented.

"To be honest, I've never seen two people more perfect for each other than those two." Cyborg stated, "And it was all ruined because Polybius wussed out."

"And the way he rejected her." Robin said, "No hesitation. He didn't even skip a beat when he said no. It's like he didn't even think about it."

"I don't think he did." Raven pointed out.

"No, he didn't." Beast Boy agreed, "Otherwise, he would have realized that Donna was the perfect girl for him and said yes!"

"She really was." Cyborg agreed.

There was a long silence before Starfire spoke up.

"So, what do we do now?" Starfire asked.

"Support Donna." Robin answered.

"And Polybius?" Raven asked.

"Screw him." Robin said bluntly, "He's tough, he'll make it through this and come back to us. We all will just have to give it some time for this whole thing to blow over."

"But, it won't!" Starfire said, "Donna truly loved Polybius. And now that he has rejected her, I fear that she may leave the Titans."

"That's her choice." Raven countered, "If she chooses to leave over this, then there is nothing we can do about it."

"But do you think she will?" Cyborg asked.

"Maybe." Raven answered.

"Maybe?" Cyborg questioned.

"It's hard to say." Robin said, "Polybius was the one who recruited her and basically turned her into the hero she has become. It was because of him that she even decided to pick up the mantle of being a hero in the first place."

"And now that her inspiration is gone?" Beast Boy questioned.

"She may or may not continue." Robin said, "Polybius had always preached selflessness in her eyes. Depending on how she sees this, she may see it as hypocrisy on his part and decide that this world isn't worth fighting for."

"Is there anything we can do to prevent that?" Beast Boy questioned.

"No." Cyborg answered, "After that mock date, she may be angry with us as well."

"How?" Starfire asked.

"Because we sorta forced the idea that Polybius wasn't going to say no." Raven answered.

"We did help drill that idea into her head." Beast Boy agreed.

"And therefore, all we can do is wait and see how this plays out." Robin said.

With the team deciding to wait and see how things played out, Nathan again watched the video of the rejection. However, he was taken off guard when the voice began speaking to him.

"Nathan." The voice called out, "I have what possibly, might be the last task I'll ever need from you."

"Really!?" Nathan asked as he spun around.

"Maybe." The voice said, "Depends on how I feel."

"What do you need me to do?" Nathan asked.

"I need you to remain on standby." The voice ordered, "Depending on how this situation plays out, I may have you take the blame for it."

"Blame?" Nathan asked, "For what?"

"You'll see." The voice answered, "In fact, you'll know it when you see it."

"Okay…" Nathan said.

"And I wouldn't worry about this one too much." The voice said in an honest tone, "I may not need you to take the blame on this one. You may have finally served your purpose."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Nathan said.

"Now, just listen and wait for my word." The voice said, "I will tell you whether or not you need to take the blame. But I would count on doing so."

"Got it!" Nathan said.

Meanwhile, Donna started to think that she needed to get home. So she began to walk that way. However, she got a sudden and colossal urge to go back towards Titans tower. She couldn't explain why, but rather than take the left she needed to take to leave the city, she took the right and began walking down the street.

Donna kept her head held high as she walked. There were few people out, but the sun was once again shining bright. Donna found it strange how only a night had passed since the rejection, but it still felt like it had just happened seconds ago. Like she was still staring at him right in his eyes when he rejected her.

Despite this, Donna wished she had never met Polybius. And he never inspired her to be the hero she had become. She would much rather be at home, not upset over this, and living wholly isolated and oblivious to man's world. And forgetting that Polybius ever existed!

**Oh snap! He said no! And now shit is aobut to hit the fan!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for one last chapter of The Terror of Silence...**


	38. Chapter 38: Sudden End

_Chapter 38_

_Sudden End..._

Taking a right turn, Polybius drove down the main street of Jump City. He was once again playing Sum 41's song 'Pieces.' He also didn't have his backpack with him as he just calmly drove the T-car. However, there were full boxes in the back seat.

Walking down the same street was Donna, who saw the oncoming T-car and saw Polybius sitting in the driver's seat.

"Oh, great." Donna said as she looked at him, "What does he want?"

Polybius looked over and made eye contact with Donna. He wished she wasn't there, but he couldn't control that.

Without any warning, there was a sudden and massive explosion. Donna watched, in horror, as the T-car, and Polybius with it was blown into a billion bits and sent flying in every direction.

Donna felt her heart stop and jaw drop. The power of the blast completely annihilated the car, and there was no chance of Polybius surviving that. Despite how much of a beating he could take, he still had his limits. And Donna watched as they were blown to bits.

"Polybius…" Donna muttered out as she heard the siren of an emergency vehicle rapidly approach the scene.

As the pieces of the car began raining back down on her, Donna could only stand in shock, barely able to comprehend what happened. Her best friend, and the one she loved, was just murdered right in front of her.

And she was responsible for it.

_To be continued..._

**And there you have it! The end of The Terror of Silence! I hope you enjoyed this story and I would like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who reviewed. The words of encouragement really helped me pull this together.**

**Anyway, I as always I hope you enjoy the rest of the day, and I hope to see you in "The Face of Oblivion."**


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